I HATE BULLIES! I hate that children think they need to be cruel to other children. I really hate when adults are cruel to other adults. But what I REALLY hate is the worst bully I know–ME!
I am harder on myself than any bully would ever be. When I screw something up (which does happen and with a fair amount of frequency), I tend to beat myself up hard . . . and for a very long time. I think I’m pretty good at “forgive and forget” except when it comes to myself. I “relive and dwell” which certainly helps no one–ESPECIALLY me. You would think that after all this time I would learn. The problem is that I know I need to get over it, but I haven’t developed that skill yet. I do eventually get over it, but it is always there in the back of my mind taking up very valuable brain space (that gets even more valuable every day!).
I also tend to bully myself when I’m trying to decide what to wear (“That doesn’t fit because you’re too fat!”), whether to read a particular article (“You won’t understand it anyway, so why bother?”), whether to accept a social invitation (“You don’t have time for that. Look at your overfilled calendar! Don’t you ever say ‘NO’?”), or whether to play Monopoly with my grandkids or mop my floor (“The house is disgusting. Don’t you ever clean?”) My inner voice is a real bully sometimes. Other times, that same voice must be having a good day because all I hear is “You should go out with your friends. The housework can wait! You won’t get this chance again!” It is obviously a psycho inner voice!
So what do I do to tame that bully? Sometimes I go through my Pinterest quotations board or immediately stop my brain bully and change the voice to something like “Think how much you learned from that error today and now you know you won’t do it again.”
I think I bully myself because I am more worried about disappointing other people than about disappointing myself. I really dislike when people are depending on me and I blow it. I feel like my reputation is at stake. It doesn’t matter that the last gazillion things I did were OK, it’s that one thing . . .
But when my rational mind thinks about it, it probably is not the end of the world, it can probably be fixed, and hopefully they will eventually forget about it (or perhaps the next big screw up will take its place!).
So what do you do when your brain bully wants to beat the crap out of you? Please share your tips below so I can beat my bully back into submission . . . at least for a while.
Today’s thought is to be grateful. No matter how bad you think things are, you can always be grateful. Did you wake up this morning? Be grateful. Do you have a place to sleep? Be grateful. Do you have clothes to wear? Be grateful.
I came across this in my Facebook feed. I don’t usually take the time to watch longer videos, but this one is important. We all have gifts to make the world better. Don’t regret not using yours. Please take the time to watch this and really think about whether your gifts are being wasted and what you need to do–right now–to stop that. Let me know what conclusion you come to by commenting below. Enjoy! 
One of my favorite things to do is listen to music. And one of my favorite parts of music is the lyrics. Most lyrics tell a story. I have different playlists on my iPod and on Spotify that I play depending on my mood. One of my favorites is my “Motivation” playlist. I play it sometimes when I feel particularly beaten up by life, when I feel like I’m pedaling hard and not getting anywhere, or when I don’t feel like I’m making a difference in anything I’m doing at that moment. So here are some of my favorites from that playlist and why I particularly like them:
When I go on vacation, I really like to take advantage of the new locale. In another state, it might be dining at a local restaurant rather than a national chain. Yelp is really helpful for this. In international cities, it might be eating what that region is known for–at least once.
I don’t take part in New Year’s resolutions because I never manage to meet those goals. I know that about myself and don’t want to set myself up for failure purposely, especially since I tend to do a lot of that accidentally. The one thing I do do is find my “word” each year. Here is my list for the past few years:
Now that there are fewer than 30 days until the “big day,” it’s all getting real. Somehow I will soon be 60. And, honestly, a lot could happen in the next 30 days. You never know when the last time you see a loved one will be. So why are we so negligent in expressing our love and appreciation?
Today’s post is more of a “do what I say and not what I do” topic. Here’s a news flash: You can’t do it all! Whether it has to do with your job, your home, your car, or any other part of your life, you can’t physically, mentally, or emotionally handle every single task that needs to be done in every area of your life.
Laughter is good for you. Laughter is contagious. Laughter feels good. Laughter brings people together.
You already know that you, and you alone, are responsible for your attitude all day every day. No one can force you to have a bad attitude–that is a choice you make. You can decide to let others bring you down, or you can decide that you, and you alone, have control over what has power in your life. I choose the latter.