marie-louise: I accept my own wants
We have been drawn to Marie-Louise’s beautiful universe for a long time - but it’s not just a visual world, she’s as kind and inspiring as she is talented. We first connected when we collaborated with her brand Oceania which inspires everyone (including us!) to have beautiful rituals every day. Since then she’s left Denmark, lived in Cyprus and returned - she inspires us not only to prioritise self-care but to not be afraid of creating our journey and not just follow the road that’s been laid out for us by society. Make sure to follow her right here.
Hi Marie-Louise, could you start telling us a bit about yourself and what you’re up to at the moment?
I currently live in Copenhagen since I recently joined Skall Studio after working and living in a village in Cyprus for 6 months. I am also studying my Master in Management of Creative Business Processes (CBP) and running Oceania Copenhagen.
You are the person behind the brand Oceania, which is all about creating rituals and turning functional everyday moments into a bit of self-care and love. How did you come up with this idea?
I guess it started because I did not manage to stick to my ‘routines’. I don’t really like the sound of it. To this day, the word just sounds like a systematic stringent, procedure, and that’s why I’ve been trying to introduce ‘rituals’. I am a very structured person who prefer consistency, so I changed my rituals by removing anything that doesn’t serve me. I cut my skincare down to a few things since that resonates better with me. I prefer to keep it simple.
To me rituals are more emotionally connected to the mind and body. To me, a morning ritual can be vary. So you may have rituals for days with low energy and other rituals for days with higher energy.
I think I’ve always had extremely high expectations to myself. I’ve struggled to find out who my authentic self is because I’ve always had a lot of masculine energy and I love to be in this dominant, performing energy. But I learned, that I need to nurture myself and embrace my feminine energy in order to be successful in my masculine energy.
To me, this feminine energy means slowing down, taking care of myself and allowing myself to sit with my creative mind while doing nothing productive. I think that’s why my rituals are crucial to me.
Have you always prioritised self-care? If no, how did that affect you?
I certainly haven’t always prioritised self-care. In my teen years I suffered a lot from migraines. I would have attacks several times a week and I’d eat pills most day of the week although it wasn’t working. Now, I might have one yearly. I think that the clearest way that my body told me that I should prioritise self-care and start listening to my body. I truly believe that illness and health issues often happens we do not prioritise self-care.
To me, self-care means listening to my body. Accepting and not judging, whatever my body desires.
We believe intimacy should be a part of every person’s wellness world as it can affect both your mental and physical health in such a positive way. Do you prioritise intimacy in your life?
I believe that intimacy is crucial to our well-being. For me, intimacy is about feeling emotionally connected and supported. So I prioritise to be intimate with my partner, but also myself. I think I’ve always struggled with my own self-esteem and I think that intimacy with yourself is how you keep developing your wants and needs. I think it’s important to stay curious. On ourselves. Our bodies. Our desires. Our needs.
Do you feel pleasure is something the society openly encourages people to prioritise?
I don’t necessarily think that pleasure is something that society openly encourages people to prioritise. I do think that there has been shed much more light on pleasure the last few years thanks to brands like Sitre.
Do you feel like there’s anything holding you back in regards to feeling free to explore and find out what gives you pleasure?
I wouldn’t say that there is anything holding me back. I believe that when you’re in a relationship it is important to talk about this and check in with each other. The world is in constant development and so are we. That’s why I think we should all be better at reflecting and exploring our own pleasures, values, thoughts and opinions more often.
Has your idea of pleasure and intimacy changed or have you always seen it as you do today?
It definitely has changed over the years. As I mentioned above, I believe that we are in constant development and I think that I have personally developed the last few years. I am from the generation where sexual education was a 5 minute film about a man penetrating a woman with a condom, so she didn’t fall pregnant. It’s crazy to think that that’s been our entrance to sex and intimacy.
Most importantly, I’ve learnt not to judge myself or anyone around me, but staying curious. I’ve learnt to accept my own wants and needs, and I’ve accepted my own kind of pleasures.
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