“We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives, not looking for flaws, but for potential.” ~ Ellen Goodman

I know, I know; it is past January 1st. Ignore that. The important focus here is this: “… not looking for flaws, but for potential.”

What if, instead of beating yourself up for the things you don’t do or don’t do well or don’t do enough, you looked for what you do right, are beginning to do, are interested in trying? Build your strong points, in effect, not smack around your weak points trying to get them to behave. That’s abuse of self, and I highly do not recommend that.

Maybe you’ve added a couple healthier meals and find yourself really enjoying them. Expand that a bit. Maybe you’ve started walking more regularly and noticing you look forward to it. Walk a bit more or a bit farther or a bit more briskly. Maybe you’ve even (gasp) allowed yourself time to get down and silly and enjoy life more. Allow that more.

Do you still have to go back and fix those weak parts? No, I doubt you do. I imagine they’ll find themselves being pulled along by all the good until you forget what was even a problem.