The best session I went to this week at the Women’s Conference was entitled “Commit, Create, Catalyze” led by Nan Crawford. A few things she spoke about stuck with me, probably the most profound was “Be Kind to Yourself”. She told a story of how close she is with her parents. How every time she talks to her dad on the phone or sees him, instead of saying good-bye, he says to her “Be kind to yourself”. It seems so simple, and yet is so hard.

Like many other motivational-type speakers, she remarked on how hard we are on ourselves. Seriously, what I tell myself in my head, if I ever spoke those words to another human being, I would have no friends. No second guessing that at all. Still, here I am saying those things to myself.

I was saying to Norman this morning that I need to adopt that in my life. I think I’ll make little notes to put places like my mirror, wallet, maybe the back ground on my phone? If I see it enough, maybe I’ll start acting that way.  More importantly, I think it’s something I should say to my kid every day. She already is such a perfectionist, so much like her mom and dad. If I can start that tape in her head now at 8? By the time she hits 40 it would be a whole different mindset. I hope.

So, here I go.

Be Kind to Yourself.