Giving Yourself A Little Grace
Can we all agree to be a little less harsh... with ourselves?
Friends, let me tell you: I tend to be the worst offender on this front. I give so many of those around me the benefit of the doubt. I offer up support to those who have been there for me over the years. I do my best to give love sans judgment or expectation.
Okay, sometimes I fail at that last one. But I'm trying.
And when it comes to giving myself a little grace and some extra room to breathe? That's where I really fall down on the job. Why is it so difficult to cut ourselves some slack when we need it the most? I'm constantly reminding myself (and have others to remind me, thank goodness) that I will never be everything to everyone.
Logically, I know this to be true. We are all just human beings trying to figure things out as we go along, after all. How could I possibly expect myself to live up to such standards?
In the midst of my book project, the podcast, client work and other side projects, I'm attempting to process all the good and the bad coming my way and it hasn't been easy. I'm rather grateful for the good, mind you. Friends and family members are getting engaged, starting families and celebrating victories both large and small. It's all so great. Simultaneously, it seems as though bad news is delivered just as regularly online, on the news and over the phone. To be really honest, some of that bad news is hitting far too close to home at the moment. I often find myself wanting to dive in. To process information. To help. To love. To support. To comfort. To enable. To do whatever I can to make someone else's day just a tiny bit easier. And thus, I tend to set my own life and work (and life's work) aside to do so.
Then the guilt sets in. Those of you who run a business understand, yes?
Here's what I'm trying to keep in mind: It's okay. It's okay to give myself time to process the good and the bad. It's okay to offer up support even when saying yes to someone's joyous occasion or painful moment means temporarily saying no to my own priorities.
It's okay to give myself a little grace.