If I was to ask you to share five things you are grateful for, would you be one of them?
Would you remember how your eyes allow you to see sunsets and the faces of your loved ones? How your legs took you trampling through a pumpkin patch last month, embracing all that fall has to offer? Or how your strategic skills came up with a plan for Thanksgiving that all your family members could agree to?
Is there at least one thing you can celebrate about yourself?
As Thanksgiving is merely weeks away, people we know are taking the time to practice gratitude a little more often than they usually do. Friends of mine are daily posting things they’re grateful for on Facebook. And along with this Holiday, people will be sending cards to loved ones or even coworkers, telling them how much they mean to them.
But how often do we pause to be grateful for ourselves?
I know, some of you are reading this and cringing inside. Especially if you were raised believing that to think well of yourself in anyway was prideful. Or, if like a few people I know (myself included), you’ve struggled to accept certain parts of yourself. Being thankful for ourselves can seem impossible when it feels like we have some glaring imperfections effecting our view.
Only here is the problem, when we are unable to celebrate the good that is true about us:
It effects everything we do.
When we can’t embrace even the good parts of ourselves, we are less likely to practice self care. Instead, like Brene Brown says, we spend our time “hustling for our worthiness.” This wears us out, and makes us less present to the people we most want to show up for in our lives. Sure, we may be able to perform and achieve in a way that garners us success, but because it was accomplished without embodying our full selves, it never feels like it’s truly ours.
When we can’t embrace even the good parts of ourselves, we are less likely to practice self care.
We are heading into a holiday season where we’ll inevitable eat too much, then feel guilty about it. Where there will be talk about New Year’s Resolutions and specials on gym memberships. And all of this will remind us of where we lack. Of how we don’t measure up to who we think we’re supposed to be. It will be very defeating.
Unless, we can practice gratitude for ourselves.
Being raised in the Christian tradition, I remember getting the sense as a kid that it was wrong to focus on yourself. Prideful, to feel good when you accomplished anything. And even in college, when people would be complimented on something they did, the “proper” response, always seemed to be,
“Thank you, but I couldn’t have done it without God.”
Believing that God created us and that the Holy Spirit does come to our aid, ultimately, this statement is true. However, it negates the good choices made by someone to do a good thing. It ignores the God-given dignity of that person.
When we celebrate who we are, we are agreeing with God.
Also, when we celebrate who we are, we are agreeing with God. In the creation story in Genesis, after God created the whole world, including humans, He called it good. In Zephaniah chapter three, verse seventeen, it says God will “rejoice over us with shouts of joy.” Another translation of this verse says He will “delight in you with singing.”
God delights in you.
Meaning, it’s not wrong for you to be grateful for yourself. To try and see yourself the way God does, is to align yourself with Him. It doesn’t negate our flaws or brokenness—we still need God to help us with those things. But rather it enables us to see ourselves more clearly and even joyfully.
To try and see yourself the way God does, is to align yourself with Him.
As we head into this season, let’s not berate ourselves for what we are not. Instead let’s hold our flaws in balance with the truth of all that is good about us. And with this gratitude let’s give ourselves grace so we may be better able to extend that same grace to others.
Where have you found it difficult to be grateful for yourself?
What are three things about you that you can be thankful for?
Do you feel mentally and/or emotionally overloaded by both real life and the approaching Holidays? If so, sign up for my email list and get your FREE copy of my Five Steps to Declutter Your Mind, to help you find clarity and peace this season.
