For Today: April 25th
We honor ourselves and our friends when we can tell them how we feel.
Theodore Isaac Rubin
Expressing my feelings, especially the negative ones, does not come easily. I want people to like me. I prefer to please rather than anger or upset a friend. There are some things, however, that are not worth the price I have to pay for them.
Like all progress, willingness is all it takes to learn how to deal with emotions, such as anger in a way that harms neither me nor others. By consciously feeling my anger, rather than acting as if it isn’t there, I am actually expressing it, even if only to myself. From this beginning, I can go on to learn how to express my true feelings to others.
For Today: Being honest and open with friends & family is a sign of growth.
Being open & honest with my feelings does not come naturally to me. At work on Friday, I spent 2 hours working on 4 documents. After I’d finished, I was asked to delete those documents & condense them into 2, because my fellow co-worker did not ‘feel like’ taking an extra 5 minutes to do HIS work properly.
Ordinarily, I would have complied with this request. This time, I decided to stand up for myself, politely of course, and call him in on his laziness. I asked him why I should have to spend another hour to re-do something in order to save HIM 5 minutes. He backed off right away & agreed to doing things the right way.
If I had stuffed down MY feelings of frustration & anger, I may have eaten over it. Instead, I faced the truth & SPOKE it, and guess what? I came out better FOR it, and empowered to know my voice was heard.
It's never easy to stop the people pleasing & risk rejection. When I am confident enough in myself is when I am able to take that risk without fearing the outcome. I will not be a doormat for anyone; I am a child of God and as such, I am worthy of better treatment from MYSELF and from others
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For today, I pray for the courage to allow my voice to be heard & the willingness to take my rightful place in this world.
Great job Chris! So often I see myself volunteering for something because the silence of no one else doing it overwhelms me. Then I resent it, procrastinate, and plot ways to either avoid or get out of it. Then guilt ensues. What a nasty cycle.
ReplyDeleteoops-- previous comment was from me. Megan, my daughter, was using my laptop and must have not signed out!
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