Finding Our Worth

This morning, my grandfather passed away. I had this post scheduled before this occurred, but as I reread the post, I realized how much my grandfather loved his family and knew each member's worth. His desire was for all of us to be happy, productive, and to return to live together as families after this life. This post is dedicated to him and my other three grandparents, all of whom are together and engaged in their eternal work. Their love has inspired me to understand who I am and has given me strength to do very difficult things. With that, here is this week's post.

Anxiety is very good at attacking my feelings of self-worth. It tells me that I will never be good enough, that perfection is so important but always out of reach, that nobody will see any value in me or my actions. These are all false ideas, but hard to ignore at times. Yes, I pray and read my scriptures and understand that I am a child of God. But anxiety overwhelms me at times.

Even with medication, scripture study, and prayer, I struggle with self-doubt. Because I am aware of this issue, I have tried to look for ways to help me remember that I am a child of God, that He loves me, and that I have worth that is intrinsic. I feel it about others, especially my students, so why is it so hard to see in myself? Anxiety.

I came across a quote that I love that is a wonderful reminder that my worth never changes and that it came with me. I made it into this week's *FREE* print...

This is a FREE printable for you to use FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY.
Right click and save, then print as a 8" x 10" print.

So, how do you remember our worth? I would love to add ideas to my arsenal against anxious feelings of self-doubt! I hope you share with me below. Also, if you have any questions or topics you'd like to discuss, let me know and I will do my best to share my feelings about them! Until next time, sending peace, love, and hugs!

Gratitude Journaling

Hello, friends! I'm back today to share a tool that has helped me as I deal with my anxiety. I'm sure a lot of you have heard of this before, as have I, but I didn't realize how powerful it would actually be in my life. The tool is called a gratitude journal. 

What is it? It's a place where you write down things you are grateful for! Easy peasy! I use my phone to read my weekly scripture and journal within my scripture app. Some people choose to journal in a notebook. Some people keep a blog. Whatever you want to do, it will work. That's the beauty of this tool--it is completely personalize-able!

Why does it work? Part of the issue with anxiety is that is causes you to dwell on the negative. When you are purposeful about looking for the positive and try to focus on gratitude, you start to rewire your brain. I've been doing this every day for the past 3 1/2 months, and it has been paramount in helping me to change my mindset!

Here's this week's *FREE* print to go along with this idea.

This is a FREE printable for you to use FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY.
Right click and save, then print as a 8" x 10" print.

So, this week's challenge, which is PERFECT because Thursday is Thanksgiving, is to start some sort of gratitude journal. Make it simple. Make it do-able! I hope you share what happens here in the comments! Until next time, sending peace, love, and hugs to all!

Acknowledgement

I've been thinking a lot lately about the people who truly helped me along my journey with anxiety. The people who actually led me to get help were those who didn't try to change my point of view. Here is what I have realized:

• They accepted that there was something wrong, listened to me as I explained my feelings, and allowed me to feel what I was feeling.
• They offered help when asked, not in an unsolicited manner.
• They continued to invite me, even when I flaked out at the last moment, knowing the real reason behind my actions was anxiety and not something negative.
• They made me feel like I was lovable, the opposite of how so many others led me to feel.
• They were THERE when I needed them.
• They gave their TIME.

As I've thought about this, I came across a short video on grief that truly struck me. Because a lot of my anxiety is rooted in grief. Grief of never having children, grief over my failures, grief over my imperfection, grief of so many other losses. I hope you take a few moments to watch!

So, with that said and shared, I invite you to take time this week to ACKNOWLEDGE. Don't try to fix. It's OK for people to feel! Allow it, acknowledge it. This is how we learn to move forward, by accepting and moving on. Here's a *FREE* print to help you remember this principle:

This is a FREE printable for you to use FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY.
Right click and save, then print as a 10" x 8" print.

Thanks for stopping by today, friends! I hope to be back again soon with more insights and sharing. I appreciate your walk with me on my journey. Please feel free to share in the comments below topics you would like to discuss or questions you have! Until next time, sending peaceful wishes!