Mindy’s Monday Motivation – Blog Post #25 – Be kind to yourself
Mindy’s Monday Motivation – Blog Post #25 – Be kind to yourself
I am a whole day late this week, but I know you will forgive me for my tardiness. I am not making excuses for myself. Things just happened and instead of feeling guilty about it and pushing myself on Monday night to write the blog, I decided to be kind to myself and work on this post today instead. Let me explain a little more about yesterday so you can understand what transpired yesterday. I hiked for five hours with a friend who came into town for Thanksgiving, up and down Blackett’s Ridge in Sabino Canyon National Park in Tucson, Arizona. If you have been there, you know that trail is a tough one. Then, I went to Starbucks, did some work, took a couple of meeting calls. When I finally realized that I was famish, I drove to a sit-down restaurant to eat, then drove two hours to get back home to Phoenix. I then spent sometimes unpacked my car. Unfortunately, my husband had something he needed to finish up, so he had not made dinner yet for the kids. I helped my husband prep dinner before proceeding to bed. As you can imagine, I was exhausted. That was just yesterday. Let’s roll back the clock a bit to the day before yesterday, Sunday. In the early morning, I packed my car, drove from Phoenix down to Tucson for two hours, then drove up to Mount Lemon, an hour and 15-minute drive, and hiked for four hours before I drove another hour and fifteen minutes back down to my manager’s home for the night. Rolling back one more day to Saturday, my friend from college had called me on Friday and said she was in town, so we decided to go hiking together and catch up at the same time. We hiked from Pima Canyon to National Trail in South Mountain for five hours. Those past few days were the long hike days. As a matter of fact, I have been hiking every day for the past 12 days, except for last Tuesday when I took my youngest out for a bike ride. No, I am not crazy. I am just taking advantage of the great weather we are having in Arizona for hiking right now. I had my eyes on Mount Lemon for 10 years and finally got the chance to hike it. I wanted to spend time with my friends, and I got to do that. So, yes, it resulted in me missing my posting deadline last night. For that, I do apologize but I won’t feel guilty about it. As one would say in the eighties, “Sh** happens!”
?You might say that I created the situation for myself. Perhaps. Perhaps I could have stayed in Tucson a little longer to write the post. I have thought about it, but I worried about my energy level and whether or not I could drive home safely if I waited too long before starting my trip home. Maybe, if I didn’t stop to eat, I could have gotten home sooner, and have time to write the blog. Question is, would I be able to write? I don’t know if my mind was very coherent last night, so would it matter if I had time? Could I have written it earlier and then post it last night? Perhaps, but would I be able to come up with this theme to talk about tonight? What exactly am I talking about here? A lot of us, men or women, tend to beat ourselves up over past mistakes and errors. We start to doubt ourselves, our judgements, our capabilities, and our very beings. We replay events in our mind, thinking of the various ways that we could have avoided the errors, thinking about things that we would do differently if we could roll back the clock and get another chance to do it over again. I am not saying that you should not reflect on the past. However, you should not let the past confine you, restrict you from being you or change you from who you really are.
?I will say it again: please be kind to yourself. First, the past cannot be changed. We all know this. And, as cliché as it may sound, the future is unwritten and focusing on the present can help you define the future. So, what if you missed a golden opportunity, perhaps it’s not such a great opportunity after all and maybe you dodged a bullet. Well, no one know for sure, but dwelling on the mistake or what you believe to be a mistake, may cause you to miss another opportunity. So, what if you didn’t get that dream job, it may not necessarily have anything to do with you. There is all sort of reasons why companies don’t pick certain candidates. Requisition closes sometimes due to business changes. There wouldn’t be anything you can do about it. Of course, it’s good to reflect on what you did right during the interview process, but don’t dwell on it as that could lead to regrets, which lead you down a rabbit hole full of negative thoughts. Even for personal affairs, your actions and decisions may not be right, but at that moment in time, you could only make the best decision based on the information you had. So, don’t beat yourself up over it. Just recognize the lessons learned and move forward.
?For this thanksgiving in the US, I hope that you recognize the good, the capable, the talented, etc. in you and lay to rest those doubts, regrets and overall negative thoughts that weigh you down. Be kind to yourself and know that you are enough!
?Until next Monday, happy Thanksgiving to those who are celebrating in the US,
?Mindy
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