It's said that we are our own worst enemies. But why is that? Shouldn't we be kinder to ourselves? This world will try hard enough to tear you down. Why should it have any help from you at all?
No matter where you are in life, you probably have at least the occasional feeling that you are not good enough, that you should have done some things in your life differently. But that’s how life goes sometimes. We know more now than we did five years ago, because we are always growing as people. That’s just a fact of life. So why beat yourself up because you didn’t know five years ago what you know now? Of course you didn’t, because hindsight is twenty-twenty, and our lives build on previous experiences to continually grow us as people. If you’re not satisfied with where you are in life, one of two things need to happen, you either need to figure out what it is that you are doing that you shouldn’t be, or what you should be doing but aren’t, or maybe...you need to quit being so hard on yourself!
If you have a heartbeat, you're here for a reason. That reason is not to make yourself feel like a failure because you didn’t graduate early or on time, or because you're not at the same place in your career as everyone else. You need to take a look in the mirror and recognize that you wouldn’t take this crap from everyone else, so why are you taking it from yourself? Why are you letting yourself beat you up and tell you you're not worthy?
Your motto in life should include the golden rule of course, “do unto others…” but it should also include treating yourself like you treat other people. If a family member or close friend had the struggle in life that you were having, what would you do? Would you point out all the imperfections in their lives and pile on and make them feel even worse about themselves? I think not. So what would you do instead?
Would you…take some time to sit with them and listen to what’s going on? Offer to help them in any way possible? Let them know that they aren’t alone? In other words, you would just cut them some major slack, right? Right. So what are some ways you could do that for yourself? Could you delegate some of what is making your life difficult? Get an extension on a project? Quit a job or take some time off? Make time to journal or do a hobby that you enjoy to give yourself some much-needed rest.
Stop being so hard on yourself. You are loved. You are more than your accomplishments. You are more than what you haven’t accomplished. You are even more than your possible future accomplishments. If you never accomplish another thing, you are still you. You are still human, and the world will still turn. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves of this.
Sometimes, we need to tell ourselves that just living is enough.
We are enough.
I am enough.
You are enough.
