365 Ways to Start Over: Day #24 – 24 Ways to Remind Yourself You Are Special (that aren’t just head exercises.)
You are the most important person in your life. You may have other people who are close to you or for whom you are responsible but you must nurture yourself before you can nurture others. The greatest capacity to love comes from being able to feel love yourself. You are wonderful! Remind yourself of that with these simple steps.
24 Ways to Remind Yourself You Are Special
1. Buy yourself flowers and put them in your office or home.
2. Stop in the morning and get a cup of really exotic coffee with whipped cream.
3. Drive to your favorite spot in town where you can just sit for hours in peace and think. Bring a notebook in case you get new ideas of things you want to explore.
4. Take you camera to a garden or park and photograph the beauty of nature.
5. Take your camera to a place that is really interesting to you and photograph anything new that you discover: city buildings, people’s faces, shadows, close ups.
6. Select your favorite one or two photographs from your collection and have an 8 x 10 print framed and hung where you will see it everyday.
7. Make an appointment to have something done that you never have – manicure, pedicure, massage, facial, shoe shine, etc.
8. Go to the mall and let a make up artist do your makeup.
9. Get out your best china and crystal and cook yourself a dish that you love. Light a candle.
10. Gather the materials to start a hands on project that you always wanted to do but never made time for: woodworking, decoupage, sewing, scrap booking, home improvement.
11. Sign up for a class in something that intrigues you: guitar, a language, travel locations, yoga, history, a software program.
12. Rent three movies that you love and enjoy them over a weekend. Have popcorn on hand.
13. Start a journal and everyday right down one thing you’ve learned about yourself.
14. Buy yourself the same thing you gave as a hostess gift at the last party you went to.
15. Make an anonymous donation to your favorite charity in your honor.
16. Change just one focal point in your home – a table centerpiece, a wreath on the door, a keepsake in your foyer.
17. Go shopping with a goal of purchasing just one thing – an accessory that is your signature.
18. Order monogrammed stationary.
19. Rearrange your closets, basement, garage or pantry.
20. Think of one thing that you absolutely love and place it where you will see it everyday. If you love birds, hang a bird feeder. If you love dogs, cut out magazine photos of them and put them around your bedroom mirror. If you love humor, get a daily calendar with humorous quotes and put it on your desk.
21. Visit your library and get a book on a topic you know nothing about.
22. Start a collection of what you love.
23. Take an afternoon and visit all of the churches, synagogues and mosques in your area. The architecture alone will amaze you and invite you to think about different perspectives.
24. Take a blank sheet of paper and start drawing pictures of things that remind you of you.
Think of all the ways other people have shown you that you are special. You can do those things for yourself. Think of all the things people have said to you that have made you feel special. Start saying those things to yourself. Start now!
Get Mary Lee’s article Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken.
Mary Lee Gannon is the president of Gannon Group – an executive coaching and consulting firm that produces higher individual and organizational performance through Executive Leadership Coaching, Fundraising Coaching, Organizational Development, Board Retreats, Visioning, and Planning. Mary Lee’s personal turnaround came as a stay-at-home mother, with four children under seven-years-old, who endured a divorce that took she and the children from the country club life to public assistance from where within a short time she worked up to the level of CEO. Her book “Starting Over – 25 Rules for When You’ve Bottomed Out” is available in bookstores or at Amazon. Get her FREE ebook – “Grow Productivity – A Leader’s Toolbox” on her web site at www.StartingOverNow.com.