Learn

Give Yourself Space

Too often we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be a certain way, to not make mistakes or to appear to be something we may not be. What we are, is human. We are fallible. We stumble. Stutter. We make mistakes. We are meant to, that’s how we learn. So it’s important in those moments to give ourselves space between what we did do and what we should have done. To allow ourselves to breathe and pause, to feel what it feels like and to think about what we could do differently the next time, not to give ourselves ample time to beat ourselves up, but to just give ourselves those moments before we rush to negative self-talk and just let ourselves learn, let ourselves learn.

I never gave myself space for anything but perfection before stepping on this path, and if I wasn’t perfect, I was an awful person, less than, undeserving of good things. There was no space to breathe, there was just right or wrong, no middle. I was quick to chastise myself when things went wrong and slow to give myself the credit when I did something right, or had accomplished something I had worked for. When I didn’t reach my expectations I was quick to tear myself down and not believing I truly deserved good things I never allowed myself to celebrate my victories. It was a very unhappy place to live, but my mental illness told me I didn’t deserve any breaks, or moments to learn from, to take a pause from the direction I was heading in and really look at the things I had done. My disease only wanted me to beat myself up for those things, not receive anything positive from them, because it wanted to me stay sick, and, it wanted me to get sicker.

We all deserve a break. We all deserve second chances, maybe even thirds, fourths, fifths, sometimes it takes us many tries to get it right, to feel what it feels like to get it wrong enough that we don’t want to feel that anymore. That’s why it’s important to pause. To let yourself feel and to ask yourself if there was a different path you should have taken. If we don’t do that we’re doomed to keep taking the same path, so take that moment, give that gift to yourself. It may feel strange at first, even uncomfortable, but stay there for a moment, and make it a safe place for yourself. A place you can go to to regroup, to exhale and take away what you need to from what may have happened, or what you’ve just experienced, and, give yourself permission to fail. Let yourself learn, allow yourself to make mistakes without beating yourself up for them. Failing at something can always be looked at a positive thing, as we’ve just learned what not to do the next time so we don’t have to do it again.

Give yourself space. Learn who you are, understand why you do certain things and learn how to do what you do better. None of that happens when we are quick to judge your own actions and then try to bulldoze on to the next thing to run away from the mess you just created. Acknowledge the mess, learn from the mess, and make better decisions to not make those same messes moving forward. Find it within yourself to give yourself that place to love and forgive those things that make us human. SLAY on!

SLAY OF THE DAY: When you make a mistake, are you quick to punish yourself? Why do you do that? Is that helping you? Is that hurting you? How? What if you didn’t do that? What if you gave yourself space to make mistakes, to learn and to make better choices next time? What do you think that feels like? How can you make that happen for yourself? How do you think that will help you? Remember SLAYER, no one is perfect, no one gets it right every time, we’re not meant to, what we’re meant to do is make better choices, to listen to our needs and listen to our heart to guide us to where we’re supposed to be, if we don’t pause we’re not learning and we’re not listening. Stop. Pause. Listen. Learn. Now you’re SLAYIN’!

S – self L – love A – appreciate Y – you

Slay Say

Good morning SLAYER! Know that whatever comes your way, you have the ability to accept the good and learn from the bad to allow yourself to be your best  you.

New blog goes up Tuesday, until then…SLAY on!

State Of Slay Within You

Slay Say

Good morning SLAYERS! Forgiveness does not change the past, but it brightens your future.

New blog goes up Sunday, until then…SLAY on!

State Of Slay Forgiveness

Slay Say

Good morning SLAYER! Embrace those parts of you that don’t know they’re loved yet.

New blog goes up Friday, until then…SLAY on!

State Of Slay Butterflies

Our Darkest Parts Can Bring The Most Light

Those parts of us, the darkest parts, those parts that we may think we should hide, the parts we had to fight the hardest to overcome, or are still fighting to overcome, the parts where we may have almost lost ourselves, those are the parts that can bring the most light. I used to be ashamed of those parts. I would hide them at all costs, never sharing my truth with those around me, even when asked. I thought they made me a bad person, weak, or not capable. It took a lot of pain and suffering, alone, to realize that maybe me hiding those parts wasn’t the best course of action, because hiding them was only leading me down one path, and that path had a dead end.

For me, I was fortunate to have gotten to myself to a place of such desperation that I finally had to let those dark parts out. Share them. And find others who were also working to overcome their dark parts. It took time, and practice, learning to let go of the fear of what I thought you would all think of me and just be honest about where I was coming from, what I was thinking, and what I had done to get myself there. What I discovered is that as I shared my dark parts they felt less dark, because I was able to bring some light to them and learn to make better choices to shift my path onto a better one. And as I continued to share, and continued to get better, I started to see that even though I still have a long way to go to get better, I was still able to shine the light I had on those who were just starting their journey. To them, I had made great strides from the darkness and was living positive healthy life that they had only dreamed of. A lesson that, no matter how far down we may think we are, there is always someone else who may be, or feel, lower, who can be helped by your experiences, courage and story so far. Even on our darkest days, we still have something to offer.

As I got better and many years passed, and, my light got brighter and brighter, I realized that talking about those dark parts was not only essential for my continued growth, to remind myself where I had come from, but also sharing them was like a beacon to those still sitting in the dark. I say this all the time, if someone who has never been through darkness the way we have gives us advice, or offers some suggestions, we are most likely not going to listen or take them, but when someone has come from the places we’ve come from, and offers up what they’ve done to get out, that is something we’ll connect with, and may inspire us enough to take action in our own lives. Never think that your past is something you should hide, or shouldn’t share. On the contrary, share your past, your story, your dark parts, because you never know who can be helped by it, and I guarantee, you will.

Today I make a point to share my dark parts. I share them to show others that there is hope, a solution, I celebrate those dark parts because they give me the opportunity to give back, to be stronger, to share with all of you. Those parts of us in the dark are the parts that connect us to others, and we give them permission to share their dark parts which may in turn shine some light into those dark places. It is the darkest parts of us that, when we share them, give off the most light. Share your truth. Let those dark parts shine bright.

SLAY OF THE DAY: How do you feel about your dark parts? Do you keep them hidden? Do you share them with others? If you don’t share them, why don’t you share them? What are you afraid of? Has someone shared their dark parts with you? How did that make you feel? Did it make you feel that you weren’t alone? That you had a connection to this person? You sharing your dark parts can do the same, not only for them, but for you as well. When we share those parts of ourselves that live in the dark, they get brighter, they loose their power over us, and can bring comfort to someone else. It’s important to share our truth, not only for ourselves to but show others that they are not alone. Let yourself shine bright, share the dark parts and allow yourself to be honest about your journey, that honesty will not only help you grow, but will give someone else hope they can as well. SLAY on!

S – self L – love A – appreciate Y – you

Slay Say

Good morning SLAYER! You’ve done better than you realize. You’ve helped more than you know. You’re closer than you think. Find your purpose and get out there and be your best you!

New blog goes up Sunday, until then…SLAY on!

State Of Slay Awesome

Rebounding From Regret

It’s rare today that I regret things. When things don’t go my way, or something negative happens based on choices, or I decision I made, I now, typically look at that as learning. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t sting anymore, it still does, but I look back to see where I could have done something differently, or made a better choice. That type of thinking keeps me out of regret and back into action because it’s in action where positive changes, or better choices, are made.

I wasn’t always thinking that way, in fact, for most of my life I was full of regret, and full of anger about past events. I was angry at others, blaming them for the outcomes, or I was blaming myself and beating myself up further, telling myself I was a piece of crap because I messed up again. That vicious cycle kept me in the darkness, and propelled me even further down.

Regret, really, is useless. We can’t change the past, we can’t go back and change what we did, so why do we spend so much time regretting the choices we made when we can’t do anything about them? What we can do is make better choices moving forward. To learn from our past and use that to help us in our present day. There may be things that we can fix, or make better from our past, and with the knowledge of what we had done, we can use that to possibly amend or make repairs on the things that didn’t go well, or we misunderstood, that, is truly the only way we can change the past, by taking positive action today. Again, it goes back to perspective. We can take a seemingly negative situation and make it positive by learning from it, or fixing what we can with the knowledge we now have. When we think of things that way, we don’t really have anything to regret. Now, there are things that we can’t go back and change, or make better, the opportunity may have past and there is no going back, I’ve had many of those, but again, it’s about learning from those experiences, and, forgiving yourself for not having the knowledge, or courage, or experience in that moment to do the right, or best thing. We can’t look back at who we were and expect ourselves to have been who we are today. We have to acknowledge that we are on a path of self-discovery, and that we typically learn the most when things go wrong, or possibly hurt, because we pay more attention to those things, so the reason it may have happened in the first place is a positive reason, to get us to change. There are no coincidences or accidents, I’ve said this before, even accidents aren’t really accidents, they may not have been what we had intended or wanted but there is a reason for everything, and sometimes it’s not your reason, but the other people, or person involved, but, usually there is something we can all take away from each experience, good, or bad, it’s just how we choose to look at those experiences that sets us a part.

I had an experience yesterday that I was really disappointed in. It was something that I may have been able to control somewhat, but it had a lot to do with me not feeling well and I wasn’t as sharp as I usually am. I was upset. And I found myself, for a brief moment, starting to get down on myself, and then I stopped and got into possible solutions. As a result, I was able to come up with one. Now, that is growth and learning. Instead of getting angry at myself and regretting all of my actions leading up to that moment, blaming them for the place I was now finding myself in, I started to look for other options. As a result I stayed out of self-hatred and self-pity and stayed in the self-love.

Regrets don’t move us forward, only back, they keep us shielded from the present and what we can do to make things right, or better for ourselves, they keep us from learning, from growing, they pull us back into the shadows when we need to stay in the light. Let go of past regrets, learn from them, use them to build a better you, and one day you may find that have nothing to regret, what do you think about that?

SLAY OF THE DAY: Do you tend to regret things from your past and hang on to them? Why do you think you do that? How does it benefit you? How does it hurt you? What can you learn from those things you regret? What can you do differently for next time? Are there ways you can now improve or better those situations you regret today? If so, what are they? Stay in action SLAYER, always focus on what you can do to make a situation or experience better, and if there is nothing, looking at you part and what lesson you can take away from those times to give you some positive actions to take the next time. SLAY on!

S – self L – love A – appreciate Y – you

Slay Say

Good morning SLAYER! Fill yourself up with love until you become like a magnet and that love becomes attracted to you.

New blog goes up Sunday, until then…SLAY on!

State Of Slay Power

Slay Say

Good morning SLAYER! We are all connected by our stories, by what we share, what we reveal, and what we take away.

New blog goes up Friday, until then…SLAY on!

State Of Slay Stigma

Slay Say

Good morning SLAYER! Don’t forget to say thank you, especially when you stumble or don’t get what want, it’s those times we learn the most, be grateful.

New blog goes up Sunday, until then…SLAY on!

State Of Slay Thank You