Recently, I’ve been thinking about how we treat ourselves. For instance, if I promised my friend that I would have her back and that I would encourage her to help make the choices and the changes that she’s bringing into her life, would I ever consider telling her that it doesn’t matter, that the change is never going to happen and she should just give up? Absolutely not. So why do I do those things to myself?

This is something that I struggle with. I’m great at helping other people reach their goals and accomplish their intentions, so why don’t I have the wherewithal to do that for myself? The more I think about this, the clearer it becomes. It’s that old, “I’m not worth it”. Terrible, right? So, while I won’t get into where that comes from (I think we all know where the voice that isn’t very nice to us comes from), I will look at different solutions and ways to get around that.

What Promises do I Struggle With?

The things I struggle with are self care, healthy habits, and staying away from the things that aren’t good for me. At the beginning of every week, I set intentions for my life, for my time, for my work, and my creativity. I’m great about the things that I need or want to get done surrounding my business, my creativity, and the promises that I make to others. So why can’t I stop breaking promises to myself?

This morning, I think I had a breakthrough. While I was doing Morning Pages, I started to think about the workout equipment that I just ordered. I ordered it on Monday and I was checking to see if there was tracking information available. There wasn’t. I got a little annoyed and then I started to think about how much has changed since the advent of Amazon Prime and our reliance upon it during the pandemic. I know we were ordering online, more than ever before, and this next day delivery thing was very compelling. Too compelling, I think.

As I contemplate this – I think it’s my lack of patience that contributes to my inability to keep the promises. Hear me out. I’m not saying that it’s the only reason, but if I don’t get the results that I’m looking for, in the time that I have arbitrarily allotted to the thing, whatever that thing may be… I get discouraged. Why is this taking so long? Why can’t I get the results that I’m looking for? This is never going to happen. Why do I even bother? I’m never going to achieve X,Y, or Z.

See What HAppened there?

I’m not giving these things enough time. I mean, if it’s a bad habit, I’ve probably had said bad habit for years. Why do I think it’s going to disappear in a two week time frame? Why do I think I’m going to be able to build the muscle (literally or figuratively) to get the thing done in so short a span of time?

So, what can I (or You) Actually do?

I’m going to try to be more patient. I’ve incorporated meditation into my daily practice (for real, like 6-7 times a week and I’m going to count on the idea that will give me more patience, that I will be able to let things play out. That I will give things time to “stick”. Ok, I’ve promised myself. Let’s see if I can keep that promise. I have hope.

How about you?

Do you struggle with these things? Do you break promises to yourself often? Can you see how being more patient with yourself, with the results might help? Let me know. I’d love to hear about it.