I am so blessed to spend much of my time each week listening to, or reading, the stories that women share during calls, in emails, in virtual meetings, and on SayItForward.org. Every woman’s story inspires me and I learn from them all. Every single one.
A theme that has been central in many recent stories and conversations is not a new topic, but one that I am certain requires re-examination before this year comes to its timely end. It is the theme of not being enough. I wrote a piece about this last year — You ARE enough, and you have ALREADY DONE enough! — but here we are again. Many of us are still experiencing those familiar feelings about what else we could have, should have, or would have done in a number of different situations in our lives. Some of these situations may have been as recent this morning, or they may have happened many years ago. It seems there is no statute of limitations on self-judgment. In most cases, our inner critic relentlessly insists that what we could have done or, worse yet, should have done, is much more than we actually did. We know that when we enter that downward spiral of self-criticism, we limit our ability to experience joy, inner-peace, freedom, and a “lightness of being” as we move through our day-to-day life.
I love to explore new possibilities, and with much love I suggest that we all commit to exploring our own new ways of releasing the self-judgments that continue to limit our happiness and interfere with our overall sense of well-being. We can discover ways to consistently…
… choose self-love and self-compassion;
… forgive ourselves for what we now consider to have been bad decisions, while acknowledging that we did the best we could have done based on the information, experience, and wisdom we had at the time;
… recognize and celebrate the many, many things we have done exactly as they needed to be done
And most importantly, we can know that we are already so much more than enough!
Speak these words out loud until you believe them – “I am so much more than enough.” You ARE!
~
Photo credit: © Ivan Karpov | Dreamstime.com
WOW… how is it that you are so timely with your inspirational pieces .., you are soo right… no statute of limitations on beating ourselves up!! Wishing you all good things in the New Year!!❤️
Sharon, this came at a perfect time. Am mourning the loss of my Mom and was wishing I could’ve done more. You are a mind reader and have always said just the right thing at the right time. I miss you and am sending great thoughts for 2023!
As women, we cannot hear this enough. Thank you for the reminder. Your light shines bright and you are doing such good work in the world. Gratitude.
Lucille
Your timing is perfect, Sharon, as I gather my thoughts about what I want to leave behind in 2022. Self-criticism, doubt, judging myself – these sentiments do not serve me any longer. Thank you for articulating an age-old habit that I hereby BANISH to the past. Merci!
~ Kate
I read this at the perfect time!
What you so beautifully wrote about “doing what we can based on the information we have” is something I tell myself, but also something I want to hold more firmly in my mind — there is so much truth in it. So much gratitude Sharon for writing this precious gem that so many of us need to read (especially me!).