I AM worth it!

  Every now and again, we all need to be reminded that we ARE good enough.  Sometimes we get hammered down by the brutal reality of life and it seems that our inner feelings start to lag.  We ARE good enough.  In fact, we are beyond good enough.  We are perfect.  That perfection may be different with each of us but we are perfect in our own ways. 

  With everything that has been happening on the Bayou over the past year, my confidence was beginning to take a beating.  Stress from caring for ill family members and for ill and aging pets just about took its toll.  I was beginning to doubt my own self-worth.  Trust me when I say that is a hard thing to handle.  My remedy was to work myself into a frenzy with home renovations and yard work.  Then, that too, started to take a toll on this old body.  Something had to give.  While I could not take a break from the care-giving responsibilities, there had to be some easier way of stress relief other than my tried and true method of hard work.  It took the idea of a very dear friend to "plant" a bit of happiness.

  One day, this sweet friend mentioned that we should buy ourselves flowers.  While it was nice to receive flowers from others occasionally, buying them for ourselves could reconfirm our confidence.   I do not buy flowers so, instead, I picked.  I picked a bouquet of gardenias and stuck them in a vase. Well, that was done so why did I not feel better?  After doing a few chores, I walked back into the living room where the bouquet sat and immediately noticed how nice the room smelled.  That was nice.  Later, I returned to the room and noticed that the sun beaming through the window was highlighting the blooms.  That was nice.  Still later as I sat editing photographs, the flowers, once again, caught my attention and I thought of Tina, my sweet friend.  Yep, THAT was nice!  

  Those three things lifted my spirits even without much effort on my part.  While I did not buy my flowers, I had followed Tina's advice and had some just for me.  I was worth it!  The effect was pretty special so, today, I went out and picked another handful of gardenias.  If one bouquet lifted the spirits to any extent, perhaps I needed to repeat the process.  I think Tina is on to something here, folks.  Doing one small thing just for ourselves can make all the difference in the world.  It is important to take care of ourselves not only physically but also emotionally.  Tina, thanks for the advice!  A vase of flowers  each week can bring a lot of smiles.