| Good morning read! Are you ready to get this party started? I am bursting with excitement for all the progress you're about to make toward your goals. Today's lesson is one of the hardest. It sounds really simple. And it is really simple. But to actually do it is extremely hard for most people. Truthfully, this is the one thing that holds most of us back from achieving our goals. It is something I still struggle with and need to tackle on a daily basis. But I know that we can overcome. Before I tell you exactly what I'm talking about let me ask you a few questions. Are you a trustworthy person? Do you trust yourself? Do you always do the things that you tell yourself you will do? Since I can't hear you I'm just going to guess a little here. There's a reasonably good chance that you said "yes" to the first question. Of course, you are a trustworthy person! And you possibly said "yes" or "sometimes" to the second one. I'm a trustworthy person so I can trust myself, right? But that third one, if we're really being honest with ourselves, is where things start to get a little murky. If you tell your boss you're going to do something you do it. If you tell your husband you will do something you are pretty likely to do what you said. Same goes for your kids, your friends, and your coworkers. Honesty is a big deal and you understand the value of keeping your word. Your integrity is at stake. You want people to know they can trust and rely on you. Except, when it comes to being able to trust and rely on our own selves, then we're not quite as confident. I say I'm going to go to the gym after work but after a long, hard day, I'd really just prefer to go home and relax, so I don't go to the gym. I tell myself I'll stop eating this carton of ice cream after the next bite, but it is just so good. I might as well enjoy the whole thing. I deserve it. I commit to waking up early each day next week so I can start my day with prayer and quiet time. But by Tuesday I find myself laying in bed scrolling through social media instead. I'm tired and I deserve a little extra time to relax and zone out for a bit. You can ask anyone we come into contact with and they'll tell you that we are honest, trustworthy people, full of integrity. And yet, we can't actually trust our own selves. We make commitments with ourselves that we know we have no intention of following through on. We lie to ourselves and let ourselves off the hook, coming up with excuses and reasons like it's our job. Sometimes we do need to change our mind. There will be times when something will happen or we'll learn something new and we'll need to adjust our course or switch up our strategy. But most of the time, when we don't honor the commitments we make with ourselves it's really just because we'd prefer to take an easier path. We choose comfort over honesty. We decide to go the easy route instead of taking the path of integrity. My challenge to you today is to start honoring your own self. Begin to teach yourself that you can trust you. Have as much integrity within you as you do with those around you. We're going to do this with itty bitty steps. Let's not go crazy and sign up for a marathon today and force ourselves to follow through with it. It has taken you years to break down your trust with yourself so it's going to take a lot of work and some time to build it back up. Start small. Here are a few examples of some tiny commitments you can make with yourself today: - I will go for a 5 minute walk today.
- I'm going to put down my phone when I first see my kids after work/school today and have an undistracted conversation with them about their day.
- Today, I will read one page of a book.
- I will pause to say a prayer before each of my meals today.
- Before bed tonight I will set a 5 minute timer and pick things up around the house.
Notice that each of these ideas all mention today. We're not committing to forever. And they will all take just a few minutes. These are easy wins. You'll still have to remember. You'll need to be intentional. And there will be some work and discomfort required, but these are pretty simple commitments. You might be thinking this is silly, and tiny commitments like this don't matter. But I promise, it is in these tiny commitments that we've broken down our trust with ourselves, so it should be in these tiny commitments that we will work to build that trust back up. Today's project: - Make one small commitment to yourself today and then keep it.
- Notice how it feels to honor yourself.
You are a trustworthy person. Now, go prove it to yourself. Tomorrow's topic is sure to give you a boost of energy for your day so be sure to watch out for my email in the morning! Love and peace, Tracy P.S. - If you're on Instagram, feel free to share your small commitment and tag me in your post (I'm @tracykulwicki). I would love to cheer you on and celebrate with you! | 
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