Be Gentle With Yourself

I didn’t really mean to take a 2 week break from blogging. I was aware of it, but I can’t say I meant to do it. I had a big project that got in my way. And then I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to write about that seemed worthy of your attention. And then I started to beat myself up about how long it had been since I’d blogged. Today I decided that perhaps my non-blogging could be the subject of my post; it was time to stop beating myself up and to start being gentle with myself.


I’m not always good at being gentle with myself. I often feel like I’m not getting enough accomplished in any given day (or week, or month). I have so much I want to do and a lifetime of hyper-productivity to look back upon which has set a high personal bar! These days, I have such a full life with these three wonderful kiddos and my amazingly cool husband that sometimes things just don’t get checked off my list the way they used to. It’s easy to berate myself for this. It’s far more difficult to be gentle.


I’m learning though. I’ve been taking a yoga class lately with two of my girlfriends. Yoga is new to me, and I’m thoroughly enjoying this class. The instructor hits just the right vibe for my taste and the 5:45 AM class (hot vinyasa flow) is challenging and fits into my crazy schedule. (The instructor has 5 children herself which inspires me!) Yesterday morning, she ended the class in a relaxation pose and played The Beatles’ classic “Let it Be.” It was all I could do not to cry. What a simple reminder that it’s okay to let go of anxiety and self-criticism and just let it be.


So, today I’m back to blogging and feeling more okay than ever about the break.


How about you? Can you be gentle with yourself about something today? Can you widen your definition of what is good….and just let it be?