You have to stop being so hard on yourself.

I kicked off last week crying to my manager about how frustrated and stuck I’ve been feeling lately.

And I ended the week with being so overwhelmed with joy at the fact that all of the early bird discount spots for my retreat were booked.

Somewhere in between that, I took on the very tedious project of putting up wallpaper in our baby’s nursery. Which required *a lot* of patience.

I experienced so many different emotions in just a 7 day period.

All of which pointed back to the fact that I seriously need to stop being so hard on myself all the damn time.

9 times out of 10, I’m doing a much better job than I give myself credit for. But that’s how life is.

We hyper fixate on the negative. What’s gone wrong. Where we need to improve. Why things still aren’t going the way we want.

Instead of taking a beat and not just acknowledging, but truly basking in what is going well.

What we did get right. How far we’ve come. And what we’re being blessed with currently.

It’s hard though, especially for those of us who are high achievers, and have big aspirations. We’re constantly looking for ways to improve, grow, and succeed. Which isn’t a bad thing, at all. But there are times when enough, should be enough.

So, this is my message to you, and me—to just chill.

You’re doing so much better than you lead yourself to believe. And you *must* give yourself permission to see it that way.

I blame it on the fact that I haven’t been keeping up with my gratitude journal lately, LOL. I wrote in it later on in the week and it felt so good to just focus on the positive.

I urge you to do the same.

Starting today, take 2 minutes to write out 3 things you’re grateful for. Big or small, in any area of your life.

Keep that up for the next few weeks and see how it feels. Sometimes it’s not enough to just say we’re going to try looking on the bright side, we must practice it. Train our minds to default to optimism and see just how much of an impact it makes. In not just our mood, but our outlook on the world around us.

xo, Aisha Beau