When life presents challenges, do you scramble to fix the situation and bend over backward in an effort to control your life? Have you ignored the fact that you’re totally neglecting your personal needs and, in turn, making the situation worse?

It’s more common than you think.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going and our personal needs are often the first thing to go. Self-care? Not happening. Self-love? What’s that?

If we’re going to be successful entrepreneurs or – let’s be honest – successful humans, we have to make self-care and self-love a priority.

What’s the difference between self-care and self-love? Is there one?

In this ILTV Spotlight Interview, I sit down with a lovely lady who can answer all of these questions- Self-Care Expert and Life Transition Specialist, Melissa Robinson.

Not only is Melissa here to help get us through tough transitions, she has a wealth of knowledge on how to navigate life’s hardships in a peaceful, manageable, and loving way.

Melissa is truly one of the strongest, most loving, light-filled people I know. If you were to meet her today, you would have no idea that she’s endured the kind of hardships she has.  

When Melissa was 13 years old, her father was murdered.

This bone-chilling event, as you can imagine, has shaped her life in many ways. Melissa spent her teenage years sweeping her feelings under the rug and ultimately just trying to “keep going” with her life.  Only 6 months after her father’s murder, her mother was in an accident at work that left her almost completely paralyzed from the neck down. Although Melissa was seeing counselors, she admits that she wasn’t fully dealing with her emotions.

At the age of 16, Melissa discovered “Touch For Help”, an applied kinesiology technique that made her realize she had never fully processed her father’s death. She says it was this technique that allowed her to start dealing with the trauma she had endured as a teenager. She describes it as a shift that happened within her, one that allowed her to make peace with the situation and gave her a way to process her emotions. It impacted her life so greatly that by the age of 17, she became a certified “Touch For Help” practitioner.

After being put in a position where she was thinking about life and death at such a young age, by early adulthood, Melissa was ready to “lighten” things up a bit and began working in the spa industry.  She watched her clients come in for their self-care massage treatments, then immediately return to their stressed-out lives. Melissa then knew they needed to start treating the other part of the equation – the self-love portion. She wanted to give these women tools to free their lives from a stressed-out state.

The road to self-love isn’t always an easy one. You have to be willing to dive into the uncomfortable and address the hard questions. It can be a daunting task, but that’s why we have Melissa!

I encourage you all to watch this interview in its entirety. Here’s some knowledge and insight to look forward to:

•     The top 3 tips to remember during a transition.
•     Life will “life” you. Who will you be in the midst of that?
•     The difference between “self-care” and “self-love”.
•     How you can make a conscious decision to be a certain way.
•     How to take an honest look at your life to see what’s working and what’s not.
•     How to determine what you need to navigate through life at your highest potential.
•     How working with Melissa can lead you to feeling grounded and at peace with your life.

I like to describe Melissa as a loving ball of consciousness. After knowing her for many years, I can honestly say that she exudes love and light and is genuinely committed to helping people find true self-love.  

Are you ready to find your zen? If so, head on over to Melissa’s website to learn how you can work with her, as well find meditations, spa recipes, and free resources!

Indulge in some self-love today. Take some time to breathe, take space, and ask yourself, “how am I being”?

Then continue to spread the love by sharing this video with someone you care about!

When you are inspired, you inspire others!

Dream it. Live it. BE it!