Encourage Yourself!

Good morning y’all! I am currently sitting on my sofa looking outside at big, beautiful snowflakes falling from the sky!

I am sure by the time most of you read this everything outside your windows will be white, at least those of you near to me. Just an hour ago I was quite disappointed. You see with this weird sleep schedule I have, I’d stayed up until 1130pm waiting for the snow to start and when there was nothing I went to lay down. When I woke up at 130am I thought sure I’d see white but got up to see nothing, so I thought perhaps the forecasters had blown this one out of proportion. But now it seems the latest winter storm has shown up, I will have to share a picture later of how beautiful this mountain will look when the sun rises.

I hope everyone is having a good week so far. It’s Wednesday so for most of you, congrats you’ve made it to hump day. It’s technically my Monday workday which just makes things weird.

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about how we encourage or discourage ourselves. Whether it be our personal life or our work life, how we view ourselves impacts us just as much if not more than how others view us.

In my personal life I have certainly had negative thoughts and been doubted by others. More often than not though I’ve always been pretty confident in myself. I was born to be a mom and I know I am a good one. I may not parent exactly like you do, and I shouldn’t, we all bring our uniqueness to parenting. But I have always loved and been devoted to my kids, and I’m blessed that though I know sometimes they get frustrated with me, they also let me know they appreciate me. In the same way I know I am a good wife. We’ve had our ups and downs sure, but through it all I’ve held strong. I took vows before God that I meant and I live them out each day and will until my dying breath.

Unfortunately I’ve not always been as confident in my work life. I fell into a career in the health insurance field when I was 22, it was not my planned path but I loved it. I was with that company for seven years before getting the itch for a change. I made one that wasn’t that great and then a few months later found myself back in the health insurance field but this time with a different company. I was there for five years before again getting that itch. You’d think history would have told me to stay put, but as we often do, we convince ourselves we know best without listening to our gut. I subsequently made three more job changes before ending up in my current field, that’s not something I am proud of at all.

I think I’ve mentioned before how 41 has just done something to me, for some reason it’s had the effect on me that most people feel at 40. And so my work life is something I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on. It’s very easy for me to look back and wonder where I went wrong, wonder why I’ve had so many jobs, and wonder why I have not advanced as others have. Wow what dangerous thinking that is!! Because of it I’ve neglected to see all my good qualities. Fortunately this week I had a good friend remind me.

I am blessed that I have a few friends who will speak life into me when I need it. I realize that not everyone has that and so I’m here to remind you (and myself) that we need to speak life into ourselves! First off, you are loved! Even if you think nobody cares, trust me God loves YOU! Secondly, you have the power to be and do anything you put your mind to. That is NOT just a cliche, it’s the honest truth.

Start by sitting down and writing out those words including any other affirmations that would help you. Write them in a journal, write them on notes to leave on your mirror, on yoir dash board, on your desk, in yoir purse. Put them wherever you.can easily see them or easily grab them when you need a reminder.

Next write down your skills. Now do this honestly and write down every little thing you can think of. I think you will surprised what you come up with. If you need some prompting look through job ads. I know that may sound odd, but just trust me. Read various ads, not just for jobs you would be interested in, and when you read over the requirements write down the ones you meet.

And finally if you are in the market for a new job or career, read everything! Don’t focus on specific career paths or job titles. Click on them all and read them. If you don’t understand some of the terminology google it and then read the description again. Open your mind and don’t be quick to assume that you can’t do something just because you never have.

Speak positivity to yourself even if nobody else will. Believe in yourself. Push yourself. Looks for challenges. Don’t settle. And most importantly never ever think it’s too late to make a change in your personal or work life. You were destined for so much more than you give yourself credit for, let’s change our negative thinking and chase the stars!

~Carla~