Staying True to Oneself, Again and Again

🌟Weekly Inspiration🌟

"Every time you're given a choice between disappointing someone else and disappointing yourself, your duty is to disappoint that someone else. Your job throughout your entire life is to disappoint as many people as it takes to avoid disappointing yourself."  -Glennon Doyle

I ❤️ this. 

And...It is SO hard in daily practice.

As parents, we often think we encourage our children to find and use their voice and assert themselves—with us and with their friends, in their dating lives, and with teachers and coaches. However, in reality, whether we are conscious of it or not, we actually want them to please, cooperate, and go with the flow (aka “our flow”). It’s unspoken and hidden, but there is a sneaky pressure to conform and sacrifice ourselves in little and big ways each day.  

When we betray ourselves, a little part of us dies. A little part of our self-respect wanes because we know we’ve let ourselves down, and prioritized someone else’s needs and desires over our own. Over the course of a lifetime, this truly adds up.

Ask Yourself:

Do I make decisions in a way that honors myself? How do I cope with upsetting others along my own path?
Do I struggle to disappoint others? Am I a people pleaser? Do I often betray myself? How does this affect me?
What have I modeled for my children in this regard?
Do I rejoice when my child chooses themselves over my wishes for them?
How can I get out of my child’s way?
How can I tolerate being disappointed?
How can I tolerate disappointing?
Any small shifts I can make to invite more authenticity in?

Big ideas💡. Be gentle with oneself.