BE KIND TO YOURSELF
After my mom sat on me when I was 16-years old, pinning me down in the hallway as I fought her relentlessly to go puke my food out, and essentially saving my life (thanks mom!), I had the wake-up call I needed as she screamed at me “I love you, Kim, I’m not going to let you kill yourself!”
I realized was on the slow path to suicide - because that’s what all eating disorders are. I didn’t want to die. But I didn’t know how to live.
I didn’t have the HOW, but I had the WHO.
My mom.
I had someone else who was rooting for me to succeed in my quest to live healthily and whole, a quest that would take me 5 more years to fully recover from.
But I did.
And the advice that got me through...
"Be kind to yourself," she said.
Bulimia.
Perfectionism.
Self-sabotage.
Apathy.
Rebellion.
It showed up in ALL areas of my life, from my body to my relationships to my bank account to my business.
Do you know what had to change?
Me.
I had to learn how to be kinder to myself.
I had to learn how to make mistakes with grace.
I had to learn that failure means growth.
I didn’t always have the “growth mindset” or the value of “grow or die,” that I have now. Those had to be learned and forged over YEARS of trial and error.
I never needed to learn how to push myself - I was always a high achiever. That’s what got me into that mess.
I HAD TO LEARN HOW TO GROW INTO GRACE...
How to be as kind to myself as I would an animal or a child…
How to love on myself as I loved on others.
It takes a brave and courageous soul to take a hard look in the mirror and see YOU'VE been the biggest BULLY in your life.
Whether you've repeated lies to yourself about not being good enough or deserving...
Or you've repeated other mean things to yourself that other people have said...
You have the choice to put those beliefs, those thoughts, and those feelings on auto-pilot. (And you also have the choice and the POWER to take them off of default mode and to upgrade your subconscious software.)
CHOOSE TO BE KIND TO YOURSELF.
CHOOSE to treat yourself like you would your child or your dog, with love and appreciation.
CHOOSE to nurture yourself and to serve yourself like you would your partner or your spouse.
The Golden Rule goes both ways.
And, it takes time.
It’s a practice - daily - to learn how to give yourself some freaking credit for taking the small steps that
It’s a practice - daily - to learn how to speak to yourself, not as an abuser beating you up because you didn’t perform to a certain standard, but as a friend, as a lover, who only wants to see you shine and be happy.
It’s a practice - daily - to learn how to be kind to yourself. Whether that’s NOT pushing that extra hour and allowing your body to take a nap, or it’s giving yourself acknowledgment of how far you have already come.
GIVE YOURSELF THE GRACE AND TIME YOU NEED, TO TREAT YOURSELF AS YOU KINDLY TREAT OTHERS.
Remember, your reign is now.
P.S. One of the bonuses of being subscribed to The Princess and the B Podcast is you get chapters and sneak peeks of my new book! Previously entitled, Mindful Meals, you can listen to a sneak peek of one of the chapters here!
Now, now, I know I’ve been saying that this book has been coming out for 5 years - it’s my elephant baby, I own it. It has been my struggle and my joy and my fear to release this book into the world.
But, now...
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