Be Kind to Yourself

Last week I spent a couple days away with my team for our annual retreat. Imagine 24 women sharing a (huge) house … it’s like one big slumber party, only with a purpose. We spend lots of time laughing, crying, laughing until we cry. The time we spend together is always restorative, and we come back inspired and ready to go.

One of the things that I heard repeatedly from different team members as they were sharing the review of their year and their goals was a struggle with self confidence and self esteem. I can certainly relate to this, and I bet many of you can too.

I’ve learned that oftentimes it is the person who appears the most confident and “in charge” on the outside, who struggles the most on the inside. But why is that? The little voices in our heads that tell us we aren’t good enough, or that we don’t deserve the good things that are happening in our lives, or that we are flawed in some way have generated from some outside force … an experience as a child, something someone you love (and you thought loved you) told you you were, and more. An experience as an adult or someone else’s actions that we interpret as “our fault” or as occurring because of something we did or didn’t do, or simply because we weren’t enough.

For some reason we hold on to these words and experiences and they become a little loop that plays over and over again in our brain telling us we aren’t good enough, strong enough, talented enough, attractive enough, or just enough, period.

Life is too short to spend at war with yourself. Pick one of those stories or experiences and re-tell the story in a way that doesn’t have anything to do with anything that is wrong with you. Keep telling it and re-telling it to yourself until this new story becomes the little voice in your head, then move on to the next one. This isn’t easy. I have plenty (tons) of first hand knowledge in this department, but it is worth it. Not only for yourself, but for your business and everyone around you. The more you know, love and respect yourself, the more you are able to show up for others in a bigger and better way.

No matter what anyone else says, especially those lying little voices in your head, you ARE worthy, you ARE talented, you ARE valuable, and you ARE ENOUGH. ❤️