Since the years seem to pass more quickly when I’m not paying attention, I sat back and took stock of all the gifts one year brought me. I jotted down these twelve powerful little tid-bits that get me through some of the tough times. Because, sometimes we need to talk to ourselves like we are our own best friend. Thanks to the sacrifices of previous versions of me, future versions of me are going to be better for it. I’m honoring all of it.
Life Lines for Tough Times
1. On growth: Life gets uncomfortable just before it grows us, so if we are uncomfortable, we are in the right place; and we should be looking for that next step.
2. On needs: Life repeatedly gives me experiences and opportunities to learn how to say these three things: I need time. I need space. I need help. These are the hardest for me to say, it seems, because it is admitting I can’t do everything on my own, and I have a little pride about me. But chances are, we aren’t meant to do it alone, and therein lies the lesson.
3. On making time for small stuff: Try to say “yes” more. Even if it doesn’t matter. It makes my kids smile.
4. On speaking up: Faith can move mountains, but you have a job to do. You have to speak what you want. It’s communication. It’s self care. It’s prayer. It’s relationships. It sets expectations. It’s manifestation. You have to physically let it come out of your mouth and into existence. If you’re too scared to speak it, you’re too scared to have it. We hold the power of life and death in our tongue. Let’s speak life.
5. On fear: That thing you’re scared to do, it’s just a step toward the thing you really need to do. Take that step. You can’t be who you need to be and learn what you need to learn, without that step. Take it, and it will seem like such a nothing after you do, but you need it to build on. If you’re afraid to do something, pick something scarier and take fifteen minutes of sheer crazy courage and tackle it, then the other seems like a no-brainer.
6. On Family: “There is nothing that can break, that we can’t fix together.” That’s who we are and what we do. (That’s not mine, that’s Disney’s.)
7. On doubt: Meet every new experience with all of me. What I know and have yet to learn, all my suspicions, all my questions, all the weirdness. If it’s worthy, it will require all of me. You never know what you are capable of, if you never throw everything you’ve got at it. I.e., you’ll never hit the ball out of the park if you are afraid to swing.
8. On hard times: Our storms will come, and they’ll come to change us, to test us, to shape us, to grow and transform us. They come to disturb our comfort zones and soften our edges, and force us to weigh our own strength, and keep us grateful. Keep your praise on high.
9. On support: if you notice, we all suffer, but we don’t all suffer at the same time. That’s because we all need support sometimes, and other times, we need to be supportive of others. The currency of love is grace. “Let the strong bear the infirmity of the weak.” So when we need healing, look for help; and when we are not weak, we have work to be doing.
10. On following your dreams: Don’t carry your life around, it gets heavy. Instead of carrying your hopes and dreams from one year to the next, engage with your life! It’s yours. Only you can make those dreams real, and you choose it everyday.
11. On surviving: Living another year isn’t about the things we survived, it’s about becoming who we had to be to survive it, and learning to live each day well.
12. On being yourself: The world needs more of what we hide inside. We are more than enough. Let it out. Be wonderfully, whimsically, weirdly you.
