Everything is Extra.

I'm the type of person who will easily put pressure on myself to do more, always. Do you relate? Maybe you tend to think things like, "If I can just get this next thing done, then I'll be X (happy, successful, accomplished, worthy of good things, etc.)"

I'm forever working on some new project, trying to solve some new problem, making headway in some part of my life. It happens in my personal and my professional life. Though I do get some cool things accomplished, I'm always haunted by the shadow of "never doing enough."

There's one thing I've turned to from time to time to try to quell this hungry ghost.

I'll tell myself, "You've already done enough." I try to really mean it. I think about all the things I HAVE already accomplished. The good I've done in the world, the people I've helped, the fun I've had. Once I'm able to get myself to acknowledge this, without judgements of my shortcomings, I start to breathe a little easier.

Then I think about the things I want to do and accomplish. I tell myself, "...everything else, is just EXTRA."

It's like when you know you've already gotten an A in the class but the extra credit assignment sounds fun and maybe you could turn your A into an A+. It won' change the grade on your transcript or your GPA, but you'll know you've done a good job.

By telling myself that the things I want to do aren't being done because I need to to them to feel worthy, but instead just because I want to, it changes the energy around them. I'm not working from a place of feeling insufficient, I'm working from a place of love. Self-love. Love for myself that's overflowing and wants to make beautiful things in the world. I don't do things for love, to get love, I do them because there already IS love.

What would happen if you approached your obligations this week from this place? If you told yourself that you're already enough, that you've already done enough, and that anything you do from here on out is just extra for the fun of it? How would that change your relationship with yourself and your work?