Monopoly Grocery at Night

Baltimore City

Today I am thankful for advice from a close friend of mine.

This particular friend has some characteristics similar to my father...

the ability to deliver some tough love when needed,

that I have been missing since my father passed away.

One of the many things I loved about my dad is when I was feeling sorry for myself

he would kindly and gently hand out some tough love,

telling me that I am blessed despite whatever difficulty I was 

going through at the time.

He was always quick to remind me that many others have it worse,

that we all have issues we are going through,

and to focus on what is positive while self pity is only destructive.

For the past few days I have struggled, 

I have thrown myself my very own pity party,

complete with tears and whining...

focusing on what I can't do right now while my health is horrible.

But when I talked with this friend, 

she didn't want to hear it.

She called me on my bullcrap and

told me she wanted to hear what I CAN do.

She told me I've had my 10 minutes of pity,

now get to it...make a list of what 3 things I will accomplish each day

and work toward accomplishing it,

even if it is just showering, making the bed, and one load of laundry.

Yep.

That is what I needed...

a swift kick in my sorry-for-myself butt.

So, from now on, I will list on my dry erase board 

three things each morning that I want to accomplish by the end of the day.

Refocusing the mind on what I CAN do instead of can't do

will be half the battle to healing.

The other half will come from giving myself the same grace and patience

that I often dish out to others but don't give to myself.

That, my friends, is a whole different story for another day.

xo