REPOST : SELFCARE

Never compare yourself and your progress to anyone but yourself.

I will never again look at what anyone else has and pretend that they have it all together or that they’re happy. 

From now on I will only measure myself by my own yardstick and you should do the same. I measure myself by where I’ve been and where I’m going. Did I learn something new? Am I making a little bit of ground every day, even if it’s only an inch? And if I fail, am I being gentle with myself while still having the discipline to get back up and join the fight again?

These are the things that matter.

This was an incredible lesson to remember. And I will never forget it again.

I compare myself to me and me alone.

External success is not the same as inner success.

Inner success is something very different and very precious. It’s the thing you really want.

When we don’t want to be doing something anymore it’s time to take action. The faster we can take action, the faster we can move on from our depression.

We have to go through it, not around it. We have to do something else.

The problem is that we feel like there is no other path. What happens if we give up our livelihood? Will we starve? What happens if we leave our significant other? Will we lose all our money or never see our kids again?

The way through is to trust the Universe.

We often can’t see the path out of the storm but our job is not to find the whole path right away.

Our job is to take the first step and then the next and then the next.

And the way to do that is to trust.

The more we do it and the more it works out, the more we trust.

It’s called getting into the river and swimming. You trust that the river leads somewhere even though you can’t see where it goes up there around the bend. If you keep working at the things you love eventually the Universe opens a door that you could never see coming. And the only way to get there is to take a big step into the unknown and trust that something is there to catch you when you fall.

We have to keep going, make changes and adjust.

As soon as we do that we begin to see more clearly. The very act of starting to look for a new job or a new place to live or a new career path is often all we need to break the cycle of despair. It won’t be easy but taking real bold action breaks the Demon and gets us moving again. We don’t have to complete the whole process. Often times the things we need to do to fix our lives is to just get started. It make take days or months or years.

As Steve Wozniak once said:

“I learned not to worry so much about the outcome, but to concentrate on the step I was on and to try to do it as perfectly as I could when I was doing it.”

Most people never take the time to slow down and just say no.

Saying no is very liberating.

Stop. That is the key.

Just stop.

Learn to say yes to the things that matter and no to the things that do not.

Let go of the past.

Stop carrying it with you wherever you go because your present life is heavy enough. You don’t need all those ghosts of the past tagging along for the ride.

We don’t choose how people treat us but we can choose how we react to it.

Eventually.

We’ll feel hurt and furious in the present but holding onto that hate is poison in our blood. I’d reacted in the worst way possible, by letting my hatred seep deep inside my spirit and poison me slowly.

When we realize we’re not prisoners of the past and we have our own thoughts and bodies and souls then we can start to really live our own lives.

If you’re going to fail at least fail while daring greatly. Take a chance. Embrace life. Open yourself to possibility.