Give Yourself a Break

Hello and Happy St. Patrick’s Day my friends! I hope you find your pot of gold at the end of the day! St. Patty’s day is my all-time favorite holiday, I’ve been celebrating since I was little and the older, I get the more I enjoy the day. Sometimes I wonder what makes me enjoy the holiday so much. I think… maybe it’s the time I get to spend with family, maybe it’s my Irish roots, maybe it’s the food, maybe it’s the green beer, or maybe it’s that “lucky” feeling I get all day. But then I really think about it and I think what I enjoy the most about St. Patty’s day is that I give myself a break. This is one of the few days a year I give myself a break from “life.” I stop being so hard on myself in school, at work, or anything else I have going on and I enjoy what life has to bring me that day.

There are so many of us who are constantly beating ourselves up day in and day out because we didn’t accomplish something we wanted to. I listen to so many of my friends and even family bash on themselves because they didn’t succeed or accomplish what they were hoping. But what I NEVER hear is any of them say how proud they are of themselves. It’s funny how we can be so quick to recognize the lack of accomplishment in our lives than we are to recognize what we have already succeeded in. This literally happens in front of our eyes every single day and it blows my mind how people don’t appreciate their own accomplishments. People keeping pushing through saying what they have accomplished isn’t enough and they want to go further. Then they will come to a point where they feel frustrated because they have hit a slowing point and aren’t getting the results they want. What people don’t do is stop, take a step back and realize what the hell they have actually accomplished. We need to give ourselves a break once in a while and be proud of how far we have come in life. 

Have you ever actually stopped and looked at what you have accomplished in your life? I’m going to guess no because most people don’t. So, we’re going to stop and look together!

•    

Stop what you’re doing and give yourself a few minutes and think about your life at this moment in time

•    

•    

Now that you’ve thought about it, you probably have a vision of the last few months of your life. Some good, some bad, some parts you want to cherish other parts you wanna forget. I get it. 

Now, think about your life this exact day five years ago. I’ll give you some time because five years is a decent chunk of time that’s passed. 

•    

•    

•    

You kinda have a blurry vision of what was going on in your life, might not remember the exact day but you remember the parts you want to remember. 

•    

Now tell me, from what you can remember did you ever imagine to be where you’re at today? In any aspect of your life… work, school, family, the list just goes on.

•    

I’m gonna guess no because five years is a long length of time and in those five years you can do and accomplish just about anything. 

•    

•    

Take a second to think about something you’ve accomplished over these last five years that if they never happened in your life, your life wouldn’t be the same as it is today. 

Did you have a kid? Did you graduate from college? Did you go through a bad break up? Did you hit rock bottom and decide to finally pull yourself out? Honestly, the list is endless because we are all going through different climbs in life and are all at different stages of our climb. 

•    

But now that you’ve thought of something (and no Karen you can’t say “I didn’t accomplish anything” because every hill you climb whether it is big, or little is still an accomplishment.) Isn’t it nice to see how much you’ve actually overcome?    

It’s nice to sit back and look at what you have actually overcome and done in life. So, when you start getting ridiculously hard on yourself about something small at this very point in life, chill. You need to be proud of how far you’ve come, and you need to understand that you’re going to overcome this climb, it just might take some time. I sit and listen to so many people complain about not doing this or not getting that or failing at this and sometimes I just want to look at them and say “Ya know, there is someone, somewhere in this world who wishes to be living the life that you are right now. Quit your bitching and appreciate how far you’ve come in your climb.” I’m not saying this to be harsh or negative or to put anyone down. I just want to bring to your attention that you need to cut yourself a break every once in a while. 

Everyone goes through tough climbs in life and yeah sometimes the climb is so tough we need to take a break. In those times is when we need to lighten up on ourselves because the only person who has the ability to get over that hill is yourself. If it feels impossible and you don’t think you can get over… stop and look at what you’ve done in the last five years. Even if it’s the smallest victory it’s still an accomplishment and you need to be proud of yourself. 

If you don’t accomplish what you want today, take a break and try again tomorrow! I hope that you give yourself a break once in a while when times begin to get tough. But in the meantime, I’m going to give myself a break today and enjoy all the greens. May the luck of the Irish be with you. 

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day saying ‘I’ll try again tomorrow’”