Happy Self-Love Sunday!
All week I’ve been thinking about growth and the feeling of being stagnant. I know I’ve experienced a lot of growth this year but yet, here I am asking myself, “Have I done enough?” “Am I really growing?”
I’m grateful for the relationships I have with people who push me to be my best. The people who encourage me to do better and be better shape me into who I want to be.
Years ago I found myself in a position I never wanted to be in. I was saddened by many things but mostly by the fact that the relationships I dedicated my time to weren’t producing the results I wanted. I felt overwhelmed with my own failure and the failures of those around me that I had taken responsibility for.
I had to take the time to realize that I was being held back by relationships that weren’t allowing me to grow. The people in my life weren’t necessarily “bad” but their presence in my life was. They weren’t examples of growth and they weren’t holding me to a standard that forced me to grow. Some people were emotionally manipulative and now that I’ve removed myself from those relationships I can see what I couldn’t back then.
I was watering plants while starving myself by investing my time and energy into people and relationships that weren’t truly invested in me. I was taking away from the resources I needed to grow while receiving nothing in return. However, releasing myself from these relationships didn’t guarantee that I would begin investing in myself the resources I had been investing in others. Self-Love is more complex than letting toxic relationships go. Self-Love requires you to allocate yourself the time and energy you deserve to grow. You cannot simply water your own plant and expect it to grow. Just like plants, we need a plethora of things in order to grow. Remember to give yourself time, be patient with your growth. This is the water of growth. Remember to love yourself deeply. It took me a while to realize that I wasn’t available to love others because I wasn’t loving myself. Love is the sunlight of growth. Remember to forgive yourself for the mistakes you’ve learned from. One cannot grow while living with guilt. Self-forgiveness is the healthy soil of growth. Water alone cannot produce growth, allow yourself to let go of the relationships that hold back your growth but remember that even after you let go, you must be available to do more for yourself. Self-Love requires an active desire to constantly love yourself more today than you did yesterday. Give yourself time, love yourself deeply and forgive yourself. Pruning away at toxic relationships cannot be your only source of Self-Love.
Thank the people who encourage you to grow and give yourself the things you need.
Happy Self-Love Sunday!
The Introvert's Escape Maneuver 