31 Day Writing Challenge

It is difficult to go anywhere in our town without seeing little green stickers with the words "Be Kind". This is the result of a local charity, Ben's Bells. Of course, the point is for people to be kind to each other--an endeavor that I support. However, I would like to submit that if we are not first kind to ourselves, we will not have much kindness to give to others.

A search at BlueLetterBible.com revealed that the phrase "Love thy neighbour as thyself," (KJV) or "Love your neighbor as yourself," (NIV & ESV) occurs nine times. To me that says that we have to care about ourselves, show love to ourselves, in order to be able to love others--our neighbors and friends.

I am learning how to do this. For most of my life, I have not given myself permission to be kind to myself. I felt it was wrong--in the vein of being selfish and therefore sinning.

Please do not hear me wrong, I am not saying we should go crazy here, but we need to give ourselves permission to accept from ourselves kindness. Yes, we take care of ourselves; we buy stuff for ourselves, but most of the time, I do that with a measure of guilt. I might give myself permission to do something just because I want to do it, but there is always that nagging guilt voice in my head telling myself I have no business spending this time on myself. Buyer's remorse is my constant companion if I should decide to make a purchase for the simple reason that I want the item.

I am working on correcting this behavior. I am working on giving myself permission to accept my own kindnesses to myself. What have I gained? I am happier. I am nicer to others. I am more accepting of others and their weaknesses. I am able to accept kindness given to me from other people.

So, for the next 31 days, I am going to try to do something for myself each day. Maybe it will be working on a crafty project. Maybe it will be doing something with purpose for my health. I do not know exactly what will come up. I have a list to work on, but I am going to be kind enough to myself to allow myself to stray from the list without admonition.

This post is my official Day 1 as I am starting three days behind the average bear 31 Day Writer participant.

1) Make a blog button and write a post introducing my 31 day writing topic. (You're here!)

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There are a bunch of other people on 31 day journeys of their own. You can find them at Write31Days.com. Just a bunch of bloggers happy to have our own personal cause to write and share about.