avatarLucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她)

Summary

Lucy Dan reflects on the concept of grace, acknowledging personal struggles with self-compassion and extending an invitation to readers to explore their own relationship with grace through a writing challenge.

Abstract

In a personal essay titled "Grace," Lucy Dan contemplates the difficulty of extending grace to oneself, despite the ease of offering it to others. She observes that self-criticism is a common human trait and ponders its potential role in fostering social accountability and kindness. Dan resolves to practice grace towards herself, drawing a parallel to the physical act of being graceful. She issues a writing prompt to her audience, asking why they might feel undeserving of grace and compassion compared to others. Dan encourages readers to engage with the prompt by tagging her on social media or submitting it through a provided form, offering to share their responses. The essay concludes with Dan reminding herself and her readers that self-grace is both necessary and deserved. Additionally, she promotes her other works, "Sunmbrella" and an article on "The Queen's Gambit," which discuss the importance of community.

Opinions

  • The author, Lucy Dan, admits to struggling with self-compassion and views herself as a harsh critic.
  • She suggests that self-criticism might serve an evolutionary purpose, promoting social cohesion and mutual support.
  • Dan believes that everyone, including herself, is worthy of grace and compassion.
  • She proposes that the act of writing about one's struggles with self-worth can be a step towards internalizing grace.
  • By sharing her own experiences and challenges, Dan implies that vulnerability can lead to personal growth and connection with others.
  • The inclusion of a writing challenge and the invitation to share responses indicate Dan's belief in the power of community and shared experiences in personal development.

Grace

a poem and a writing challenge

Photo by Andrey Tikhonovskiy on Unsplash

Grace: ㅤI don’t have it. ㅤI stumble, ㅤI trip, ㅤa bumbling fool.

Grace: ㅤI may give it ㅤto others; ㅤyet for some reason ㅤdon’t feel like ㅤI deserve it.

We are our harshest critics, ㅤand I’m not sure why ㅤthis is so widespread. Perhaps it holds a purpose ㅤof holding ourselves accountable ㅤso that we remain socially supportive ㅤof others around us, ㅤan internal voice to remind us ㅤto be kind, to be better, ㅤfor someone else.

today, ㅤI commit to being ㅤgraceful — ㅤㅤno pirhouettes, ㅤㅤ(maybe, heck, I’d unshrimp for a second, at best) ㅤfor myself ㅤas much as ㅤfor others.

Writing Prompt: Why do you deserve less grace and compassion than everyone else? Prompt derived from seeing this Instagram post.

If you do choose to write a response, don’t hesitate to tag me so I can be sure to read it and share it on social media! Alternatively, feel free to challenge me to the weirdest prompt in your imagination and I’ll try my best to write a response.

Hi, I’m Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她) and I’m reminding myself today that I deserve grace too.

Poetry
Poetry Prompt
Grace
Flint And Steel
Writing Prompt
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