Why not approve of yourself?
It may seem ridiculous to ask yourself if you approve of yourself.
But do you?
Or do you look outside yourself for approval?
Are you constantly checking to see if you measure up, are doing a good job, or if you belong?
This week, I committed to approving of myself from now on.
I am issuing approval for how I have lived my life so far and the decisions I have made.
I am gifting myself approval for choosing pediatrics and practicing at Kaiser for 20 years.
I am approving of myself for being the physician leader that I was, for the decisions that made, and for the wellness work I did and did not do.
I am approving of my decision to become a coach and leave clinical medicine to support my colleagues through coaching exactly when and how I did.
From now on, I am approving of the body I live in,
the house I live in,
the clothes I choose to wear,
what I look like,
what I like to do,
and how I do it.
I often teach that I did the best I could at the moment with the information I had.
Approving of yourself is a step up.
Why not approve of all that you are instead of looking to what you thought you would, should, could be?
Approving of yourself as you are costs nothing.
It’s free and incredibly valuable.
Approving of yourself is not giving yourself a pass,
it's gifting yourself momentum and positivity.
Disapproving of yourself is a habit.
An expensive one that is common in high-achieving women.
Looking for problems and shortcomings is a habit that helped push us along through the hard of professional training and the often unreasonable expectations of our jobs.
If we disapproved of ourselves, we protected ourselves from the pain of someone else disapproving of us.
We beat them to the punch.
Not approving of ourselves
leads to chronic discontentment, disconnection, irritability, and frustration.
It leads to always doing more,
missing out on fun and joy,
and not sharing our brilliance and flair.
It is very expensive- emotionally, physically, and financially.
What might shift in your life if you decided to intentionally approve of yourself and all that you are?
You have the ability to approve of yourself anytime too.
I invite you to join me.
PS -- it took me a long time to get here. Getting help would have expedited my process. I hope that sharing this with you plants the seed so that you get yourself help and support to start the approval process sooner.