Love yourself and all else follows

I go back to this quote when I feel self-doubt coming on. No matter how strongly you believe in your abilities, sometimes that wave of self-depreciation comes along. It rears its ugly head and taunts you with:

“Yeah, right, can you really do it?”

“Tsk tsk. Someone else will do a better job.”

“This is too big for you to handle.”

Self-doubt could be quite the enemy. I’ve learned that the best way to combat it is self-love — respecting yourself, trusting yourself, not losing hold of who you are, your values and what you believe in.

Am I a good mother? I ask myself sometimes. I don’t know how my Mom did it — three kids, a successful career, a great household. I don’t know how my grandmother did it — five kids, delicious meals on the table every day, a household so spick and span. I can’t even get rid of the dust bunnies under my bed.

While I can always turn to my family and my husband to give me pep talk, the most important one to convince is myself. So before self-doubt knocks me down, I try to remember the good things. I make a mental list of how I know I am a good mother, how I believe I can do this in my own loving way, how trust in myself will make everything easier to handle.

“Yes, that’s right, I can really do it.”

“I can do this job well.”

“I trust myself that I can handle this.”

A little self-love can go a long way. Love yourself, and all else follows.

(Image and Quote via Creature Comforts)