Have You Been Kind to Yourself Today?

I want you to remember that you may not always be wise. There will be times when you don’t want to push yourself up.

Today, life itself may be fine but you don’t feel like seizing the day. That’s okay.

As humans, we can be inconsistent.

We feel those days, yet we don’t wish to confront them as they are. We want to change this gnawing feeling of stagnation. We want to move forward — we look for motivational quotes, podcasts, videos to flush this unworthiness out of our system.

We hate ourselves for not living our full potential this time.

We turn to exercise, because exercise produces endorphins. And the magical concoction of hormones and sweat gives us a different high. Maybe this inner alchemy rids us of our inner demons. The inner demon of not wanting to give a damn today.

I say, this is our default programming.

I believe we are unlimited spirits assigned a human condition. A very limited existence that allows us to put our powers to test.

We are weak by default. We are limited by our upbringing, social status, and even the economic landscape. We grapple with inconsistency, our own inconsistency.

We have hormones and mood swings, traumas and impatience to loud pesky neighbors…

We built images and monuments to marvel at something larger than us, probably God. Everything we did to fight being here, at this moment, confronting our very human nature.

We are limited by the voices in our heads, telling us we have never and may never be more than this. We push away guilt and label excuses as lies because we can’t confront them.

We built the idea of heaven because we can’t confront grief without hope. We do everything to escape our current existence — the one we didn’t hope to get when we were younger.

Yet these obstacles, they’re the way.

The beauty of the human condition is it’s oftentimes painful. Yet the pain we experience can sometimes give rise to emotions. Pain can bring about joy, wonder, appreciation and love.

Don’t escape it, live it. Give it a name, give it a moment. And when you finally realize the lesson life wants you to learn from this experience, let go.

This life will end and we will never be close to perfect as humans.

As we age, our standards change. We become kinder and more self-compassionate. We forgive ourselves for not being the person we wanted ourselves to be when our potential was still at its peak.

Enjoy the journey.

This story is 100% human written and published in Reciprocal. I write stories and essays on the human condition and I’d like to invite you to read some stories that resonated with me today:

Heaven's Healthy Healing — Who knows that the sky can share your tears as well as, if not better than a close friend?

Elena Cooper — we search for healing modalities, supplements and alternative medicines. Yet we barely spend time to go outside and marvel at the sun’s glory.

Joyce Nielsen — talks about her best friend’s passing and the life lessons that our furry friends teach us as we walk this Earth. They are gentle reminders of taking it easy in life, hope and real love.