We are all valuable in our own way and we are all worthy of good things and love. Maybe it’s the time of year but I feel like this is something many of the people I care about need to hear. I struggle to remember that I am worthy of the love my husband shows me. Even my kids seem to be harder on themselves right now than they should be. I hear them call themselves stupid and dumb and it hurts my heart.

I was having a conversation with a friend of mine not long enough and they said something to the effect of “finding a new job was easy for you, you have all these skills that I don’t have.” First, finding a new job after being fired wasn’t “easy”, it was terrifying. But not the point. Sure I have that set of skills but I can’t do her job and will freely admit that. She’s not dumb she’s amazing and smart and thinks about things in a completely different way than I do. I feel like she has more patience than I do and as a result often gets to the root of issues where I want to just solve the problem and move on. So my response to her was “Stop, why do you do that, why do you act like you bring nothing to the table.” 

We had a conversation with my kids this week about their behavior. ”Why did you act like that? It was pretty mean?” ”I’m so stupid. I don’t want to be a jerk.” Well I’m glad they don’t want to be jerks but why are they calling themselves stupid. They are far from stupid. The things they know at 11 astounds me. Additionally I hate the word stupid. We aren’t supposed to use it in our house and certainly never when referring to a person.

Why are we so mean to ourselves? The world is mean enough all on it’s own we don’t need to add to that meanness. Be kind to yourself. Take a minute to think about the things you love about yourself. Think about the things that you are good at. Find the value you bring to the table simply by being you.