Being Ourselves

There are times when we are our own worst enemy. There are times when we are much too hard on ourselves. How many times have you mentally or even out loud told yourself that you were stupid? We allow others to make mistakes but we are so loath to allow ourselves the forgiveness of our errors.

 

One thing that upsets me about my mother is that she is always putting herself down. She is a very intelligent woman but she doesn’t give herself any breaks. She will be 80 this year and has earned the right to be a bit forgetful once in a while.

 

I am learning to be more forgiving of myself. Yes I make errors but I am human and humans make mistakes. As long as we can learn from our errors there is no reason why we should be putting ourselves down for making them.

 

A sense of self worth is important. We are all capable of doing great things in our lives but we can’t succeed in an atmosphere of rejection. If we keep rejecting our self worth then how do we expect to get ahead? How can we succeed if we don’t give our selves the right to try? As any scientist can tell you it is only through experiments that you find discoveries. In order to find out what we can accomplish we need to be able to try out new things. I would never be able to do art if I had told myself that I was no good at it and couldn’t succeed. I had to try in order to see if I could do graphic art on the computer.

 

I went through a long period when I was constantly putting myself down. I was hearing nothing but negatives from my husband at the time and I allowed myself to fall into the trap he wanted me in. I fell into the trap of self doubt. We have to have faith in ourselves. After all God has faith in us and if he can have faith in his flawed creatures then we can have faith in ourselves. A starting place is the next time you make a mistake tell yourself that it was not the smartest thing to do but that you yourself are smart and will learn not to make the same mistake again. It is a small step but an important one. After all you owe it to yourself and everyone else to be the best you that you can be. We have earned the right to be happy.

 

The picture is called "Picnic."