"If you aren't good at loving yourself, you will have a difficult time loving anyone, since you'll resent the time and energy you give another person that you aren't even giving to yourself."
-- Barbara De Angelis
Can I get an AMEN?!? Wow. If that isn't true, I don't know what is! Think about that for a minute and ask, "What am I doing for myself?" See if you can come up with a list of five things that you do for just you.
Go ahead, I'll wait.....
Okay. Did you get five? Did you get at least one? If your list looks anything like mine, you probably started out pretty slow to come up with some, but then it picked up a bit. Here's my list...
1. Shower! I occasionally get to take a shower by myself, with the door closed. That's right folks! Next...
2. I take three minutes every morning while my kids are waiting for milk, fruit bars, cereal, whatever...I stop and make myself coffee. Go me, right?
3. Every so often I go grocery shopping alone and am sure to savor that whole five minute drive each way, AND the entire half an hour in the store! Woot, woot...I'm on a roll now!!
Are you reading this list?? Am I insane? If your list looks like mine, or anything relatively similar, rip it up and go get yourself a massage because clearly you're deprived. No really, go. Don't even finish reading this post. If yours wasn't quite that unsettling, then stay with me for a bit and let's see where this goes. But in all seriousness, that was my list. And then I stopped and thought about it for a while and realized, I'm blogging right now. This is my thing. This is something I do for myself! I don't write this blog for Owen, Mason and Gavin. I don't write for Eric. Not even for you! (Okay, a little for you) But it's for ME. I write this blog because I love to write. I love to tell stories, post pictures and share a little piece of me every single time I hit 'publish' at the top of every post. I pour my heart and soul into these little stories that I write, read, rewrite, reread, and eventually 'publish' in hopes that someone like you might be interested in reading what I have to say. But even if no one reads this, it doesn't make it any less of my thing, and it doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it, or that my time spent was a waste. That's what it's all about when you do things for yourself. It's good for you. And doing things that are good for you, essentially means that you are loving yourself, right? Isn't that what you do when you love someone? You take care of them, nurture them, show them that you care? So, in order to be the best 'me' I can be, I need to love myself first before I can really, truly appreciate the act of loving someone else.
So my list may not have reached five things, but maybe I'll work on that. The point is, you need to love yourself first. Take care of yourself. Feel your own self worth. Once you are able to do that, your ability to love others will multiply by a million, I guarantee. Try it! If it doesn't improve the way you feel about yourself and your relationships, you can tell everyone my blog is a sham! But do something for yourself today. Start small if you need to, but start today. Stick with it making a conscious effort to 'love yourself' more and see how you feel in a week...a month, a year. I'm willing to try! I've been blogging again for three weeks now and I feel great already so I plan to stick around for a while, and I hope you will too!
Until next time you're in The Laundry Room...
One way to love yourself is to encourage yourself and not tear yourself down. So many women focus on their faults instead of being thankful for what they truly ARE- to their families, friends, 'circles', etc. It's easy to tell others how lovely THEY are but rarely do we do it for ourselves for fear of being accused of vanity or conceit.
ReplyDeleteGod has made us in His image and equipped us for every good work. He has made us each beautiful and unique!
I burst out laughing when I read "shower!!" This, like you, is fantastic.
ReplyDeleteFantastically true, might I add! Haha Showers don't come easy these days girl, I count that as 'me' time!!
DeleteThis post screams to me. Definitely need to get better at living myself :) nice work mama!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Doing what I do best, screaming at my friends! ;) and I just might love you enough for the both of us, but even so, I still recommend you think about YOU more often! xo
Delete