Self-acknowledgement is something that had been very difficult for me...
I’ve downplayed my successes or limited myself in leadership roles in the past because I was unsure of myself. Also talking about myself in “public” is something that I (and most people) find incredibly difficult. So when a friend said, “I want you to acknowledge yourself everyday… on Facebook for 30 days”. I immediately went through a range of emotions. Happy… this might be cool Angry… this is going to make people think I’m an arrogant a-hole Sad… why am I resisting this? Can I really not compliment myself? Fearful… what if my friends/family think I’m going off the deep end… After all of that processing (in about 8 seconds mind you) I accepted the challenge with open arms because growth comes from being uncomfortable and becoming comfortable with that. On to the challenge! In 30 days... … I completed 26 posts … I collected a total of 573 likes … I had 3 people ask me if everything was OK For the first 10 days I came out of the gate strong. Compliments were flowing, it was simple and I was clear in what I was saying. People reacted and enjoyed my posts, I was doing it! The next 10 days is where I got a mix of struggling with coming up with posts and remembering to do it. I missed 2 days and normally that might cause me to get down on myself. As I mentioned before in my post about my streak with no alcohol I can sometimes get caught up in the streak instead of the way of being in the exercise. The home stretch… the last 10 days. This was the most challenging and most rewarding. It took creativity and persistence and not giving up on myself and knowing that I could make it to the end. Again struggling to come up with unique complements and missing a couple days I still was determined to finish. Really what I’ve learned about self-image and self-love from the exercise has really been invaluable. So I love my friend for seeing the greatness in me when I sometimes couldn’t. I realized that I’ve put so much emphasis on the word and action of acknowledgement. I was saving self-acknowledgement for only rare occasions and special moments but wasn’t allowing myself to be acknowledge for the simple things because I felt that wasn’t deserving. That sets an unreasonable expectation… and I’m done with that. I can love myself for anything. For taking a shower or giving back to a charity. There’s no limit. I would highly recommend doing this. See how it goes… if people in your life think you are being arrogant or looking for attention that’s their own issue. We get to love ourselves in order to give back. That’s just how it works because if I rely on someone else my power goes out the window. Have an amazing day and weekend! If you would like to do the 30 day self compliment challenge give yourself one compliment per day and #selflove30 also tag me on social media. @lifesgeneralist either Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. |
David HallNormal guy with comedic tendencies... introverted with extroverted tendencies... yogi with stressful tendencies... over 30 years old with under 30 year old tendencies Archives
November 2017
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