Inspired by Jenna
Eleven is about balance. It represents male and female equality. It contains both sun energy and moon energy simultaneously yet holding them both separately. Perfect balance.
Each month, I’m reminding myself of 11 things—to maintain balance.
- Be gentle with yourself. I demand a lot from myself, hold myself to a much higher standard. I judge myself where I do not judge others. It’s not about what you think of me, it’s about what I think of me. Extending the same grace to myself as I do everyone else seems like a no-brainer, and yet…
- What makes you happy may not be what you think will make you happy. Discovering what’s important is not about what should make me happy, but about what actually does make me happy and fulfilled. And that may not look at all like what I thought it would, or what it looks like for everyone else. And that’s no reason to ignore it.
- You are a unicorn; don’t try to be a horse. Being different is not a bad a thing. Uniformity is boring. I am not boring—or I don’t want be. I like what I like and think what I think and wear what I wear and am who I am. And I like it that way.
- Kindness is a superpower, niceness is not. Being kind is not the same thing as being nice. Kindness sometimes looks like niceness, but true kindness is not always going along to get along. Sometimes kindness is pointing out hard truths, sometimes it is walking away. Niceness is a veneer, cheap paneling that doesn’t hold up to close scrutiny and frequently hides rot underneath. Kindness is radical love, radical acceptance, and being about what is right and just.
- Sometimes it’s just going to suck. And there’s nothing I can do about it. So I’ll feel my feelings, let them run their course and then keep going.
- Everything changes. Reference number five—what sucks today may not tomorrow and what’s fabulous right now may come crashing down in five minutes. People come and go (not always of their own volition) no matter how much I love them. And there’s nothing I can do to stop it, but I can roll with it and trust that it will work out the way it’s meant to—even if it’s not the way I want it to.
- You still have to do the work. Sometimes there are happy accidents, or moments of serendipity, but mostly I just have to do the work to make it happen it never will.
- You are better than you think you are. Sometimes I think I’m pretty damn good, then five minutes later I suck. Familiarity breeds contempt, yes? Novelty always seems better. The best I can do is keep doing what I do because I can only get better from here.
- Don’t take anything personally. Always worth revisiting. Nothing anyone else does is about me. Really, it’s not. People’s motivations are solely their own and come from their own experiences and perspectives. This doesn’t mean that I don’t have to stop and reflect on my own participation in whatever is going on, but other people’s opinions are just that. Theirs.
- Keep your eyes on your own paper. Novelty always seems better—but maybe it’s not. Comparison is a waste of time, particularly in creative endeavors. There’s room for all of us, and there’s always something new to learn, and others can inspire me to be my best, but ultimately I need to worry about my own work. Also minding my own business in other areas is never a bad idea (unless asked).
- If you can’t laugh about it, what’s the point? Keeping my sense of humor about everything is critical, because life is not for wimps. Laughter is wonderful medicine for both body and soul.
