Day 17 Self Love February:

This was a hard one for me to answer as I’ve always been of the opinion that life owes you nothing. Especially if you’re not really putting in the effort, and that’s a really hard realization to come to.

I could say my physical health, but the hard truth is I’ve been extremely inconsistent – legitimate or not, life doesn’t distinguish between a reason or an excuse. A reason would be illness or injury; you may want to go to the gym, but you can’t. An excuse is a choice; you were tired or didn’t feel like it. No matter the “why”, the work isn’t getting done.

This time last year, I may have answered this as “getting out of debt”. Hubby and I have been in debt most of our time together – at least 25 of the years together. We’ve struggled so much financially over the years and started making a huge effort maybe 10 years ago. We cut WAY back on all non-essentials, and guess what? Last year in the summer, we got 100% out of debt. It’s an amazing feeling that we definitely deserved after decades of struggles! I remember 25 or so years ago crying myself to sleep because I was so cold because we had no heat. I remember surviving off of KD. I remember, just 2 years ago, that maybe filing for bankruptcy was the only way to get ahead. In the end, all it took was a lot of hard work and going without. It sucked and it wasn’t easy – especially during covid! – but we had focus and determination.

However, if I had to pick something right now…. I’d have to say my mental health. I’m trying so hard to improve my mental health, but I continue to struggle. I even asked to be put on antidepressants as I didn’t know what else to do.

Whatever it is that you feel that you deserve, make sure you’re doing the work to achieve it.