Be kind to yourself

I have been reading a few books lately for a series I am attending. One is “Playing Big” by Tara Mohr and the other is by an author Brene Brown, “The Gifts of Imperfection:  Let Go of Who You Think You’re supposed to be and Embrace Who You Are”.  I am a rabid and rapid reader. That wasn’t a typo, I devour books.  But some books make you slow down and want to read every word, they speak to you.  Both of these books have spoken to me in different ways over the last week or so.  One is about learning to empower ourselves as women and the other about finding a way to our own self-worth.

I’m still just in the Preface in the book by Brene Brown, but I wanted to share this quote, “Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing we will ever do.”

It gave me some food for thought.  Everyone has a story, good bad or ugly.  Sometimes it is much easier to look away from that story and not face things that are riding below the surface.  I may be alone but as I plan to make this transition to retirement, I am struggling to figure out what it is I really want.  I am finding so much joy in this journey and I realize much of that is derived from reading and learning.  Even if we aren’t always on the correct path if we can find our way to the things that bring us joy, we can find happiness even in the mundane.

I am a bit sad that I didn’t find any of these books 10 or 15 years ago.  I needed to learn to be kind to myself and know that my internal critic is not always on my side.  But I don’t think it’s too late to begin to discover what it is that helps us live a happy and fulfilled life.  I keep thinking about that 15 pounds I need to lose, that cardio I need to do, that project at work that I’ve been putting off and I realize I will get there in my own way and time.  Perfection is over-rated.  I’m learning to be kind to myself as I think I had forgotten how.