5/8 Each Day A New Beginning

[Cynay]

You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning

The battle to keep up appearances unnecessarily, the mask--whatever name you give creeping perfectionism--robs us of our energies.
--Robin Worthington

How familiar we are with trying to be women other than ourselves; ones more exciting, we think, or sexier, or smarter. We have probably devoted a great deal of energy to this over the years. It's likely that we are growing more content with ourselves now. However, aren't there still situations in which we squirm, both because we want to project a different image, and because we resent our desire to do so?

We each have been blessed with unique qualities. There is no other woman just like ourselves. We each have special features that are projected in only one way, the way we alone project them.

Knowing that we are perfect as we are is knowledge that accompanies recovery. How much easier life is, how much more can be gained from each moment, when we meet each experience in the comfort of our real selves. The added gift of simply being ourselves is that we'll really hear, see, and understand others for the first time in our lives.

I can only fully focus on one thing, one person at a time. I will free my focus from myself today and be filled up by my experiences with others.

From Each Day a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Women by Karen Casey © 1982, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation.

[lanie67]

Well, I've done that, trying to be something or other for this or that person I'm attracted to. I read a snippet about a book on dating that said one of the worst things you can do is try to make yourself appealing to a love interest/ that they either like you or they don't. It makes sense. I need to have faith that I am enough. I'm getting there as I get older, kind of 'this is me, take it or leave it', but I still have a lot to go.