Brave Enough To Be Bliss

gave me the courage to continue sharing encouragement professionally, and seeing others’ pain and trying to lessen it however and wherever I could.

“ Self- compassion is key because when we’re able to be gentle with ourselves in the midst of shame, we’re more likely to reach out, connect, and experience empathy.” Brené Brown

I have learned I am not unfixable, but I have also learned that life cannot be controlled. It is a series of events that shape us and it’s up to us to make good come from all those experiences, and yes, even the bad ones. But who tells us we have the power to do that? Who teaches us how to do that? Very few people because most of us have been raised by people who weren’t taught either, so we just keep on doing what we do : living in fear and thus limiting our true potential for joy, connection, belonging and purpose. There are things I have written or thoughts that I have had while writing this book that still stun me because they are kind, and they are about me. My eyes are filling with tears even today as I write this, because kindness toward myself before Ginger was just not something I was capable of. Even if I thought for a split second there might be some little redeeming quality in me, I wouldn’t allow myself to acknowledge it and certainly not to feel it, and instead I would only concentrate on how it could be better. I had as much compassion as I could for other people, but like the quote at the start of this chapter says, when it’s missing from oneself it is incomplete. My ability to have genuine compassion for others is much greater today because I no longer need to use it to feel better about myself and to justify my existence. In fact, my healing was only possible because I first learned self-compassion. Without it , I wouldn’t have truly believed any of the other lessons and I would have stayed stuck in my self-hatred, believing all that wisdom applied to everyone else in the world except me. “One of the great myths of self -compassion is that it’s about lying to yourself. Or that it’s about being weak or lazy. Or that it’s about pushing aside your difficult thoughts and saying, ‘Now I’m going to tell myself five positive thing s. ’ That’s not self -compassion. When you are self- compassionate, you’re actually doing something very specific for yourself —you’re noticing difficult thoughts, showing up for them, and creating a sense of psychological safety for yourself. Ultimately, self- compassion is about recognizing what it means to be human.” Susan David

Resources ▪

A Book I Love! — Ginger Rothhaas Mental Toughness — Ginger Rothhaas

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▪ Moving Your Body — Ginger Rothhaas ▪ High Dive: Daring to go Deeper - Resurrection Church ▪ Mel Robbins | I don’t know about you, but recently I’ve felt like I’m about to hit a wall… I told my friend this and she said: Sometimes walls are there… | Instagram ▪ Stephanie WEIGHT LOSS | Does this sound like anyone you know? #weightlossjourney #workout #losingweight #gettinghealthy | Instagram

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