Leading Yourself First

Someone gave me the advice recently that I should look for small, daily opportunities to tell myself that I am worth prioritizing. I’m a person more focused on productivity than self-indulgence (and I’ve also been in a particularly busy season), which is why this advice was extended my direction. “Be a little indulgent with yourself,” this person said. So I’ve been trying it out.

I’ve discovered there are two ways to approach this:

First, you can identify an opportunity to do something out of the ordinary as a way to show yourself that you’re worth it. For example, doing the unusual act of leaving my house after dinner to go to Dairy Queen for a blizzard, or stopping everything I’m doing to really listen to a song I love.

Second, you can dignify the routinized actions that you are already, instinctually doing and ascribe holy intentions and meaning to them. For example, going to the gym and branding it not as just a pre-planned step taken on Tuesdays, but as a 60-minute demonstration of self-love/self-care.