How’s that for a title? 🙂 What would you tell yourself, your younger self, if you could?
Here’s the thing.
I’m still learning.
Perhaps, I would tell myself these things twenty or twenty-five or thirty years ago. And perhaps I would learn them a bit sooner. But I don’t know. I’m still trying to grasp the depth and height and how-to. Learning and becoming is a lifetime of living and experiencing and trying, then trying again.
All the same……here’s a list of ten things I jotted down!
What would your list contain? Leave me your list in the comments if you’d like, or shoot me an email!
1. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Don’t. Just don’t. Spilled milk is after all……just that. Spilled milk. Paint stained jeans are…..just paint stained jeans. Splattered-everywhere-pickle juice is sticky, but in the end it wipes away and it’s just sticky, splattery pickle juice.
2. You can’t please everyone. Stop trying. Be kind, but stop letting others push you around.
3. Dream. Always. Never give up on dreams. No, they don’t always come true. BUT, dreams add hope and anticipation and splendor shine to life. Hold them loosely. Sometimes you look back and you realize that dream that didn’t happen, wasn’t quite what you thought it’d be anyway.
4. Dig deeper into Jesus and His Word. Learn it for yourself. He is the only guarantee that will remain steady in your life. He is your Cornerstone. Cling to His hand, cuddle close and press into fervent prayer. Learn to pray like the fierce women of God you are. Fight in prayer for your man, for yourself, for your marriage, for your family, for your children, for your relationships, for your friends.
5. Comparison and guilt are not your friends. Don’t let them be the boss of you. Boss them back. Quickly and efficiently and decisively. {Any tips on this one for me, friends???}
6. Try new things and figure out what makes you come alive. Lean into them. Carve out time for them. Even if it’s only twenty minutes. It matters.
7. Start a gratitude journal. Press into living out gratitude. Oh, you’ll still have hard days and sad days and grumpy days, but noticing all the beautiful and lovely and giving intentional thanks for it will dust your days with a shimmer of happy glitter. Oh and, Say the things. Tell people how they bless you. Speak kind words. Speak life words. There will never be too much good.
8. You can learn from everyone. Some people will inspire you to try new things or aim for an attribute. Others, as harsh as it sounds, will show you who you don’t want to be. Take note.
9. Start fighting fear and insecurity really hard, right now. Because from your vantage point now, it looks as if the forty-year olds have it all figured out, but they don’t. And even though it looks like they don’t deal with pressures and questions and insecurities, I hate to break it to you, honey, but they do. It doesn’t automatically go away at a certain age. It’s a fierce battle. Fight it. FIGHT IT.
10. Dig into personality information. You will thrive better as you figure out what makes you who you are. Take the Myers-Briggs personality tests. Study the Enneagram. Learn about HSP. This is your jam. You just haven’t figured it out yet. Personalities and relationships interest you. What makes YOU tick and what makes other people tick, are questions you ponder. Go for it! Learn from it. It will grow you and bless you and help you embrace who God created you to be and propel you into living loved.
Knowing some of these things won’t make you the perfect wife and mother you so long to be, but it will relieve some of the guilt feelings that want to yell at you. Your personality type makes you more readily susceptible to anxiety over relationships and to stress in dealing with life. Throw in people pleasing tendencies and a high rating as an HSP, {highly sensitive person} and you will have more compassion for yourself and equip yourself with the tools you need for self care by learning what makes you uniquely YOU!
Which one do you find yourself most relating to?
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What a great list! I’ll have to give mine some thought now.
I love lists and I love gathering inspiration from other people’s lists! Have a lovely day, Lea!