You can’t pour from an empty cup!

Welcome back to the Made for More podcast. This week is a reminder of something we’ve all heard before—you cannot pour from an empty cup.

Consider this your encouragement to intentionally do the things that pour into you… to truly serve your needs and to take care of you so that you are not scraping a cup that is  empty.

When you feel like your cup is full, you have so much more to give—not just to others, but to your life as a whole!

My hope is that this episode inspires you to find what truly refreshes you, so you can show up as your best, most aligned self. Because you were made for more—you always have been.

Love, Miranda Hammock 

Transcript

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Hey guys, welcome back to the Made for More podcast, and welcome to another Made for More Monday. I am your host and your friend, Miranda Gimmick. And I'll just have to get asked, how do you know what to talk about on the podcast? How do you get ideas? And the reality is I'm just here sharing my real life experiences. And I do believe that I do have the gift of thought and the gift of processing. I have just learned to take that and vocalize it and turn it into a podcast. Now, whenever I'm coming up with episode ideas or recording, my intention is to always stand in a place where I hope to connect and I hope to add value. And so that's hope, that's my hope for what you will find here. And this week, I really do think will be a beautiful refresher course on something we all need to be reminded of. And it's this thought that we've all heard of before, which is you cannot pour from an empty cup. You cannot pour from an empty cup. How many of us have heard that majority of our lives? Yeah, I can assume majority of us. And we have an a grasp of what that looks like or an idea of what that looks like. But when you really, really think about it, and especially if you're a very visual learner like myself, it really is uh a beautiful imagery of life and how we need to be reminded how it is okay and it is important to prioritize taking care of ourselves so that we can show up as our best selves and take care of everyone else. So I was kind of met with this challenge recently. I had woke up, I was frantic, the morning didn't go well, I had some frustrations as we're trying to get ready and get out the door and get to school. And it just felt like one of those mornings where I was on the verge of tears and I was fighting them until the tears just came. And um, when the tears came, it felt like they couldn't stop. And I thought to myself, you know what? I am gonna go get myself a Starbucks. And I just felt like if I just took a moment and went and did something for myself, maybe I could turn this around. So I went grabbed the Starbucks. It felt a little bit better, but it wasn't an instant fix. And I went home. I had a very limited amount of time between school drop off and the time I have to be leaving to get ready for work. And I knew that going to Starbucks cut into my time because I do prefer to work out first thing in the morning, and so I almost had this idea of like, I don't have enough time to work out, like, why even try? And I just told myself, I'm I'm trying really hard to lean into this mindset, this more than nothing mindset, which is this idea of showing up and doing a little bit of something is greater than doing nothing. So showing up is better than doing nothing, and so I said, I can do something. So I put in 20 minutes of just cardio, and honestly, I needed it. I knew my body needed it. Like I said, I woke up frustrated, I woke up feeling a little empty, a little lacking, on edge, overwhelmed, anxious, and I did the 20-minute workout. And as soon as I finished the workout, I was like, okay, feeling a little bit better. And then I was getting ready and I decided to turn on a um a message from an online church sermon. Was listening to that while I got ready, got in my car to head to work, felt a little bit better, was gonna continue that message, and I just thought, you know what? I think I'm gonna turn on some worship music. And as a person of faith, I just bring all of my needs to God. I don't know about you, but I need a place to place all of my things, to place all of my feelings. And I envision my relationship with God like a relationship with a parent, just going to your parent when you're in a time of need, going to your parent when you need connection and love and to feel seen and to feel heard. So I turned on worship music and I just thought to myself, you know, I'm feeling very lacking this morning. I'm feeling like my cup is very empty. And before I come asking for help or guidance or direction, I just want to stand in a posture of gratitude and thanks. So I just spent my morning worshiping as I drove to work. And let me just tell you, as I pulled in the parking lot and put my car in park, I felt like a completely different person. And I'm not going to lie, that morning, like trying to work through all the things, I literally thought, there's no way I can work today. When I was in that moment where I was crying, I was like, There's no way I can work today. How am I supposed to serve and see people? I had seven clients back to back that day, and I was like, There's no way I'm gonna be able to do this. I should I should just cancel my day because the overwhelm just felt too much. And what I realized that I did differently was I spent some time and I spent some ways refilling my cup because you can't pour from an empty cup. So I want you to take this visual with me, and I want you to envision your life like a clear plastic cup, and when you wake up in the morning, your cup might look different than mine, but let's just say it's half full or a quarter full or fourth full, or maybe it's empty because maybe it's empty from the day before. But you wake up and you already have some liquid out of your cup, and if you don't actively do things in your life for yourself to serve yourself and to see yourself to refill that cup, how are you going to have anything left through the rest of your day to be able to pour out into all the other areas that need you? Think about pouring a splash over here for your family, pouring a splash over here for your business, pouring a splash over here for the connections with the clients that you need to interact with today, pouring a splash over here to serve your friends, to serve your community. If you are not careful, you will be trying to pour from an empty cup, which will lead to the feeling of anxiousness, overwhelm, exhaustion, and a lot of emotion. And so I had realized that that morning when I woke up, I was feeling like I woke up with a cup that already just had a splash left, and I'm trying to pour it out a little bit, but I don't have much left. And so I realized I kind of naturally course corrected. I thought, how are ways that make me feel seen, loved, and refilled? Well, one of those ways is a very simple way that can often be, you know, overlooked, but to me, I know it's an act of service for myself. It is getting myself a coffee. Someone else making me a coffee, and yes, spending seven dollars a couple times a week on a coffee adds up, but that seven dollars I know brings me so much joy. It's something that I can do for myself that's fairly quick and fairly cheap, and it makes me feel loved, it makes me feel warm, it makes me feel seen. So doing that was step one. Step two was one that we often don't feel like doing when we feel overwhelmed, anxious, and short on time, which is moving your body. But I know through the years that choosing to move my body, even in the hardest times, even when I don't have time, even when I don't have the energy, or I'm emotionally just not there, it is one of the biggest ways that I can serve myself and pour back into my cup. And again, having that mindset of the more than nothing, having the ability to be like, hey, I don't have all the time in the world, and it might not feel like the most effective, efficient workout in the world, but I'm gonna show up for myself and just put in the effort, and it tremendously changed my day, and then serving my soul, pouring back into my soul and my spirit by listening to the message, the sermon, and then by spending my time in gratitude and worship and thankfulness, driving to work. And I was literally like, Thank you, God, for the things that have stressed me out. Thank you, God, for the ways that I feel stretched, because those are the areas that you have called me to. And then I got to work a completely different person. It's like, it's like I poured so much back into my own cup in small ways, and I had the most amazing day at work. And I remember thinking halfway through my workday, like, I can't believe I was so on edge this morning. I even considered like having a mental health day and like canceling my whole day, which I can't name a time that I've done that, like in the last couple of years. But I literally had contemplated that that because my cup felt so empty. And so my message here today is to be mindful of what your cup looks like, and if I had to take a guess, you're a person with a lot of responsibility and a lot of roles and a lot of ways that you want and like to pour out into all these other people and all these other areas. But my question here is how are you going to do that if you wake up and your cup is already divvied into? Or maybe it's empty from, like I said, the days or weeks, months before. How are you going to stretch yourself if you have nothing left to give? And so I want to ask you, how could you take a look at your life and ask yourself, what are your needs, and what are the ways that you can pour back into you before you think about your family, your kids, your business, your job, your manager, your church, your small group, your mom's group, whatever the things that you're involved in, before you think about those things, ask yourself how you need to be loved. How do you feel seen? For me, that's going to be body, mind, and soul. And I hit those targets that morning, and it doesn't mean it's an instant fix and like everything's great, but it really did shift my perspective and shift my posture and change the trajectory for the rest of the day for me. And so maybe you need a small act of service, like purchasing yourself a coffee or going to get yourself a smoothie bowl. Maybe you need to move your body, and maybe for you that's going to be just a simple walk on your lunch break. Or maybe that's going and popping into a fitness class at a studio nearby. Maybe for you you're similar and you're a person of faith. Maybe it's time to turn down the noise of the world and to worship. Or how can I handle this? Or I just want to get through this, or I don't want to feel this. And those are big questions that we want answers to, but a lot of times I just want to silence my questions and stand in a posture where I'm like, thank you, God. I have so much to be grateful for. Like I said, thank you, God, for the things that have stressed me out and the areas you've called me to. Now help me pour back into me so I can continue to pour onto others. Because you see, I think loving and serving ourselves is often overlooked because it sounds and can feel selfish. But pouring into your cup is not selfish. Your needs need to be met, and a lot of times we're waiting for other people to fulfill our needs or other people to see us, like our spouses, our kids, our friends, our boss, our coworkers. And a lot of times they're just surviving just like we are, and maybe their cup is empty. I don't think it's selfish to pour back into yourself in the necessary ways that energize yourself and help you love yourself so that you can be better for the people around you. I also think there's a lot of people who are walking around daily with like crippling anxiety and overwhelm. You're so anxious, but you're not doing anything to recognize where that anxiety is coming from. And a lot of times that anxiety is coming from the fact that you're scraping the bottom of a cup that has nothing left in it. Another visual to think about is think about your car. Your car is going to malfunction if you don't get your oil changed. Or if you're driving around on E, what would happen? You're eventually going to run out and you're going to be stuck on the side of the road and you're not going to be able to move forward. The same thing happens to us and to our bodies and to our lives. You're not going to be able to do much more when you have nothing left. So the message here is simple but often overlooked. And it's how can you pour back into yourself? And how can you get to know yourself so well that you know exactly what you need? And so I shared some of my needs, and what works for me might work for you, or it might not really work. I would highly recommend some sort of movement and deep diving into faith or just spiritual work, mindset work. I do think those are things that like our bodies were created to crave and need. But figure out who you are. What do you need? What brings you joy? What makes you feel refilled? A lot of times, too. For me, you want to know what makes me feel refilled is being alone. Being alone. I actually enjoy quiet time, time with myself, time with silence, time with no noise. That actually refills me tremendously because the roles that I have in my life are loud, they're connective, they're busy, they're intertwined with a lot of people. Working in a hair salon, I'm seeing a lot of people talking to a diverse spread of people. I'm taking I'm an empath and I'm taking on a lot of the things people say to me. So for me, what refills my cup is often me spending time with myself, being alone, being quiet, being calm, being reflective with my thoughts and my feelings. I also think another way that we can refill our cups is by learning to find the joy in the small things. Learning to find joy in the small things, like having music playing in the kitchen while I'm cooking brings me so much joy. And that is like a simple little dose of joy that I know fills me up. Just singing freely while I'm cooking or while I'm cleaning. Going to get my nails done brings me joy, makes me feel pretty, makes me feel seen. That helps me fill into my cup. Something else that has filled my cup that was unexpected was trying something new. I recently started adult tennis lessons. Never in my life would I think that I would try to pick up a new hobby or a sport learning at 34 years old. But I was asked by a couple of my neighbor friends, and I just said, yeah, because I like people. I don't necessarily love sports, but I like people. So I wanted to be with people, connect with people. So I said yes, and learning something new has brought me tremendous joy to get out there, to be a learner, to start fresh, to pick up a new hobby, to dedicate myself to something, to commit myself to something, to show up to something, and put myself around people that I might have not met had I not said yes to this opportunity. So that's my encouragement. That maybe what brings you joy or fills your cup means you saying yes to something new. Maybe that's trying tennis, maybe that's joining a running club or a book club or signing up for a 5K and training for it with your neighbors. Maybe that's romanticizing your life by going and buying a new candle so that you can light it while you take a bubble bath or just light it while you're cleaning the house. I think that there are so many incredible ways, small ways too, and inexpensive ways too, that we can take time to pour back into our own cups. And if I know one thing, it's that if you're listening to this, you have to be a person who says, I want more for myself, I want better for myself, I want to be my best for everybody else. But how can you continue to be the best for everybody else if you can't show up for yourself, and if you can't be the best for yourself? So it's time to remove the idea that pouring into yourself is selfish. It is not selfish. Permission to pour into yourself, just give it a try and see how you feel and see if it energizes you and revives you so that you can go pour out to others better. I can promise you it will. I hope this encourages you to take some time for yourself to ask yourself who you are, what are your needs? How can you feel seen and loved and served by yourself? And then how can you take that energy that you have refilled up into your cup and then go out to the world and pour out and be a light and be an act of service and be a lover and be a good friend and be a good family member and show up as your best self because now you have more to give. But you deserve to give to yourself first because you were made for more and you always have been.