Be the Good, keep that good and own it!

    We're so lucky at my school to have a principal who motivates us all the time with positivity and self love. She encourages us all the time to "do something for YOU" and to "be THE one". She encourages us to look past the stuff that doesn't matter and she especially reminds us all the time that we have been given an incredible opportunity in our line of work to be able to have positive impacts on so many little lives.
     We also have challenges in our line of work, however,  that become speed bumps in our road to success and obstacles that we have to overcome in order to persevere. One of her motivational "rah rah" spiels, addressing the very topic of positivity and success was about how important it is to not let anyone get your "good". Your "good" as in your self-love, your confidence, your positive attitude and anything that you do well or have going on that's just darn right awesome. 
     So often it happens that just when we've put in that hard work, or we've persevered and are finally reaping the benefits of that, someone comes a long and tries to squash it with negativity or undermining words that make us feel that what we've accomplished or how we are feeling isn't justifiable. We start to second guess ourselves and what we have achieved. 
     It's interesting too how sometimes we can be that person to ourselves. We can be the person who gets into our own head and starts giving self chats that essentially downgrade any victories or accomplishments. Take for example, when we lose weight. If someone else notices, or we get a compliment, it's so hard to just simply say "thank you" and accept that compliment, pat ourselves on the back and keep plugging away. Instead we credit the weight loss to something else like "it's just these pants" or "it was the lighting in the picture", etc. 
     My point is, that we have a hard enough time keeping our own minds positive, keeping ourselves motivated and feeling rewarded and deserving, let-a-lone allowing for someone else to come in and bring us down too. 
     This happened to me this week, I (almost) allowed for someone to get my good. This person, feeling unhappy in their own life and insecure in their own decisions, decided that they needed to take that negativity out on me. They said some horrible things (that are still haunting me) with the intentions of downplaying all that I have worked hard to accomplish. For a few hours, I allowed for that to happen. I started second guessing myself and questioning any of my successes. I started wondering if I really was any of the things that this person told me I was. Those hours felt like days and really it was an exhausting way to start my week. 
     Fortunately, I surround myself with a lot of love, family and friends who support unconditionally and love me for me. These very people were there to talk me out of giving away my good. They did a fine job of assuring me that it's ok to be me, to do me, and to feel good about it. While no one is perfect, and I am in fact the opposite of that, all we can do is try our best every day to be our best self and with that will come triumphs and successes and so much to be proud of . 
     It's up to us though to create that good, to recognize it, to fuel it, to share it, and to hold on to it for dear life. Our good, is all ours, it's what we have worked hard for, it's what we have done, it's what we have overcome, it's what keeps us pluggin' on day after day. It's what we have to be proud of and it's what we use to make those that love us, love us even more. 
​Be the good, keep that good and own it!!!