Amp It Up!

Have you been giving yourself a hard time lately?  If so, I can relate.  I drove to Orlando last Thursday (7 hours from Augusta) to spend the weekend with my parents.  Spent 7 hours driving back on Sunday.  Chose to spend Friday hanging out with family rather than working.  Hurt my neck and shoulder badly (old injury) manhandling a too heavy box, and have been in serious pain for days.  Advil/muscle relaxants/pain killers/ice/heat/massage.  So Monday was a bust.  

My brain is screaming:  ”HOW ARE YOU EVER GOING TO BRING YOUR DREAMS TO LIFE WHEN YOU’RE NOT DOING ANYTHING??? HOW ARE YOU EVER GOING TO ACCOMPLISH YOUR GOALS??”

Ever heard that nasty voice in your head?  That harsh, judgmental, unforgiving voice?  You wouldn’t talk to a stranger that way, but you feel perfectly fine abusing yourself.

Do you believe everything the voice says?  Or do you have enough distance that you can hear it and dismiss it?  

Either way, I’d like to recommend a third response: absolute care and concern.  For yourself.  

Stop everything.  Sit down.  Breathe.  Deeply.  Reconnect with your trust in the universe.  More importantly, reconnect with your trust in yourself.

You have done important and valuable things today and in recent days past.  Look back and give yourself credit for those things.  For example, I had Valentine’s Day cards for everyone this past weekend, even my visiting niece.  Presents arrived on time.  I had a “Happy Anniversary” card for my parents.  I picked up all the boxes I had stored at my mom’s house and took them away.  I’ve set meetings, answered emails, done laundry, and I even took my turn driving for 3 of the 7 hours, despite my pain.  I cleaned my desk.  I went to a women’s business luncheon.  I made linguini in clam sauce the night we arrived home from that 7 hour drive, and the next night, I gave my fiancé permission to attend an important dinner meeting with love and encouragement, and ate alone without remorse.

The truth is, I’m frickin’ awesome.  And the truth is, so are you.  Take this moment—right now!—and catalogue the amazing and loving and brave and stalwart things you have done in the last few days or even hours.  Acknowledge and thank yourself for being such an incredible person. Because no matter what happens from one day to the next, through it all you are still uniquely and beautifully you.

Treasure that.  Notice it.  Capture it.  Write it down!  No one else can ever take your place.  Embrace yourself as an amazingly valuable contributor to this planet and universe.  Life is much too short to do otherwise.

With possibility and love—

—Kim