When I was a teenager I remember fighting with my parents and saying "Why can't you just love me the way I am". There was a need in me to just be accepted for who I was and not what anyone else wanted me to be, or my perception of what others wanted me to be. It took me many many years to recognize that I had to love and accept myself the way I am first, in order for anyone else too. It's has also been a practice of mine to love people where they are and not where I think they should be, sometimes its hard but most of the time it's freeing to release the expectations of others. If I want it I have to practice it. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ When I go through my daily routine of self talk I think of the Stuart Smalley's Saturday Night Live Skits and smile to myself. When you go through your self talk give a little smile, look in the mirror and have fun with it.

Posted by Shandell Pino at 2022-05-12 16:10:38 UTC