The Hardest Gift to Give + My Christmas Wish for You

It changes, but lately the hardest gift to give myself has been

grace. 

 And this week has required that I dole out a whole lot of it. 

A reality I'm finally starting to accept is although I have enough creativity and inspiration to keep me busy for 20 or 30 lifetimes I only have so much bandwidth and when it's all used up, it's all used up. 

Lately, I had less bandwidth for community outreach than I'd like (I’m talkin’ absolutely zero energy for IG lives, posts, stories, or blog writing) and for a while I was really hard on myself about it. 

I caught myself thinking thoughts like: 

“No wonder your business isn't further along.”

 and

“You'll never be successful or able to reach people with your work if you're this inconsistent.” 

While that voice was rowdy and in my face, there was another voice present, one that was quieter but no less persistent. 

The second voice kept saying: 

 “Trust the timing of your life, trust that people will find you when they’re meant to. It's okay for your priorities to shift with the seasons of the year and the seasons of your life. Nothing lasts forever, you'll have bandwidth for your business again.”

And yesterday I stopped being at the mercy of the first voice and decided to plant myself firmly in the Knowing that what the second voice was saying was true.

Once I did I was able to let myself embrace my desires to clean the house, do laundry, prep packages, wrap presents and write out the last of our Christmas cards (scroll for a peek!) without feeling one bit bad that I wasn't sitting at my desk writing content.

When I stopped entertaining the beliefs that contradicted my desires in the moment my mood improved, I got a jolt of energy and all felt right with the world that just hours before felt like it was spinning on its head.

What a simple lesson and yet not necessarily an easy one to learn. (I'll probably have to learn it 20 more times til it really sticks.)

Perhaps the coolest part of this experience was how once I accepted that I wanted to do those things and that they weren’t going to be the death of my business it became so much easier to give myself grace for my inconsistency. 

My Christmas wish for you is that you may be able to give yourself grace you’ve been withholding around something that you're extra hard on yourself about. 

There's so much relief to be had when you stop judging yourself for having desires that stray from your top priority to-do list, start honoring the desires of your heart and stop fighting against yourself because of your humanness.

 What do you struggle to give yourself grace around? Leave a note in the comments if you feel like sharing your humanness with us.

DON'T BE AFRAID TO GIVE YOURSELF THE GIFT OF GRACE YOU DESERVE.

 HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU, SWEET ONE.

xo,
maria

PS. Don't miss my Gold Digging 2020 Workshop happening Wednesday, December 30th. The experience is designed to help you reflect on 2020 while being deliberate about finding the positive aspects so you can transition into 2021 feeling proud, stronger and eager to keep growing. Click here to learn more and register. 

PSS. If you missed my free Winter Wellness Hacks Workshop here's the recording. It's less than 40 minutes long and the tips I share are 🔥🔥🔥.