Be honest. A year ago, did you think 2020 would be the shit show it’s turned out to be? (And we are barely half-way through it.) Pretty sure nobody thought that.
Just this week I realized on a whole new level of clarity just how deeply the events of 2020 are affecting me psychologically and emotionally. And I know I am not alone.
I was born Positive. Hopeful. Optimistic. And I was born as a white male into a country built largely on those same values.
So, it feels strange and foreign to be scared. To be tired. To be unmotivated. I hate it.
These crazy days of COVID, coupled with deep racial tensions, and the political cowardice plaguing the USA, have made every day a grind and seemingly full of more tension, doom, and ugly than any time I can remember.
And it is precisely in these times of real burden, weight, and gloom that I remember that the only person responsible for how I feel is ME. (I am also reminded that no one else cares about my happiness and well-being more than I do so I need to stop waiting and hoping for someone else to help me.)
This brings me to an ideal that I am going to re-visit: being LOYAL to myself.
Loyalty to self is the essence of self-confidence. And self-confidence brings energy. Brings opportunities. Brings growth.
So, how am I going to show myself loyalty?
Daily choosing one hard thing to do and then doing it.
Not gonna talk about it. Not gonna share it (probably). Just shut my mouth, put my head down, and do it. That’s it.
I have learned over and over that doing hard things is where the growth is and on the other side of growth is where happiness, fulfillment, and peace lie.
So, when I am loyal to myself - I could care less what others may think, or if they judge my daily “hard thing” as not really hard at all - I grow confident in my ability to do things, even hard things. And that inspires me to be loyal to myself again tomorrow and probably the day after that, and so on.
For now, it will be one hard thing daily because that feels like enough of a stretch with everything going on.
But as I focus on this practice I am Positive, Hopeful, and Optimistic that I will feel better and, therefore, be able to be better.
Here goes…