Remember This: You Cannot Hurt Yourself Better...

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It’s New Years Day and many of us, myself included, will sit down and ruminate over the year ahead. What we want for ourselves, what are our plans, what are our goals. 

And, in doing so, many of us will plan for the difficulties and sacrifices these goals will require. Certainly, that makes sense. Achieving what we want requires hard work and commitment and sacrifice, without question.  

But we need to also remember to be considerate - to ourselves. Too often, we beat ourselves up. We focus on our shortcomings. We believe that it’s our failures that define us. That the words of our bosses, partners, and friends carry more weight than they should. That’s just not true.

We are what we deserve, and we always deserve better.  

I was reminded of this when I came across the following quote from an artist named Charlotte Eriksson: 

 You cannot hurt yourself better,

you cannot starve yourself to happiness
and you will not find answers
in the destruction of yourself.

Taking yourself to pieces
will not make you whole
and hitting rock bottom is not the only way up.  

There’s truth in those words, no matter what your goals. A source of comfort. A key for your sanity.  

We’d do well to remember that. So go ahead And set your goals. Be brazen. Be ambitious. But be kind to yourself.  

Remember, that you won’t find answers in the destruction of yourself.  

Happy New Year.