Here is an excerpt from West End Girl12 Ariane’s “Practicing yes.” which she shared at the Northern Voice Tiki party open mic.3 Julia and I didn’t attend.
Her words really touch me, as my shyness (fears) sometimes stands in my way, and other times I’m too focused on other’s needs to take care of mine and Julia’s.
And so, in the spirit of simplifying my life and cutting myself some slack, I am only choosing one area of constant improvement: practicing yes.
I have wasted so much time and energy on needless worry and anxiety, and it has not served me well. It has not enriched my life, and it has not helped me on my journey through this life. Note though, that I am also working on taking care of myself, so I don’t mean to say that I will be saying yes indiscriminately by any means. My intention (note, not a resolution!) is to practice saying yes to those things that challenge me and I believe will help free me from the fear and self-judgement that have held me back so many times.
…
I used to feel pressure or obligation to do things and pushed myself too hard. I know it is good to push myself some days, but others I have to take care of myself and I am the only one who knows the difference. So I am going to take better care of myself not only because I have to, but because I want to. When I say “not todayâ€, or ask for a raincheck, it is not because I am saying no to you, it is because I am saying yes to myself.
- West End Vancouver I assume. [↩]
- Very cool that the blog runs WordPress MU and that Ariane is a Drupal web designer. [↩]
- Hat tip Tzaddi Gordon, Northern Voice as Knowledge Base [↩]
5 Comments
Hey Lloyd–it’s so crazy how that post has really hit home with so many people! It’s so hard finding the balance between pushing yourself and self-care…I say this typing from bed, since my bosses sent me home today cause I’ve been sick all week and trying to push through! It’s a work in progress…
ps. oops, my blog isn’t really on WPMU since about a six weeks ago–i didn’t realize it still said that!
Hi Ariane, don’t be surprised! Thanks for putting it out there. I like the term self-care, now put a way the keyboard and rest well sister.
WPMU: hehe, I was wondering, seems like over kill. Don’t forget to upgrade to the latest security maintenance release and 2.5 will be beta any day now.
Hah, yeah, might actually go read a book in a bit! Or, perhaps take another nap (!) if I get really crazy. Hop on the bandwagon–I’ve declared the rest of March (after DrupalCon) and April to be a siege of self-care, since everyone’s so burnt out!
Yeah, I don’t know what’s going on with the WP stuff–it’s all Scott (Hadfield)’s doing :-p
yes, this positive attitude, can-do mindset makes big difference in our lives.
Thanks for the hat tip. That’s a neat way to link to references
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[...] been feeling like they need to push themselves harder to overcome what is holding them back. Lloyd (Saying yes to myself) is one of those people I know enough to say hi to, cause I see him around, but don’t really [...]