Last night I got my butt out of the apartment to accomplish 2 errands that were pretty urgent. As I left the house, the skies got really dark and a HUGE storm hit. The power went out as I was in a store. I left and came home because I don’t like driving in storms and the other thing I had to do was something important on the master computer at my parents house. So nothing got accomplished.

Our power was back on at that point but Chris decided to take my iPad and strive to be back on the global list for the top winners on Wheel of Fortune App

I took this as an opportunity to do something unplugged. I grabbed a Geneen Roth book and a highlighter and started reading.

Now I love my iPad, but sometimes the feel of a book . . . turning the pages and visually seeing how far you have come and how far you need to go pales in comparison to digital book readers.

I ended up highlighting a lot of things in the chapter I left off on. I really like the way she writes. I love the way she is completely raw about her experiences no matter how embarrassing they may be. She tells you what she has learned while telling snippets of how she learned them, she tells you about how many people doubt her and her methods, and I find that very valuable. She makes you feel like you are ok in the space you are at right now and that you deserve to breathe, love and be present.

One of the things I read tonight really hit home. Especially with all of the mental discussion on self care. This is from her book Breaking Free From Emotional Eating which used to be breaking free from compulsive eating.

“Deserving time for yourself is not a function of how smart or pretty or thin you are. Deserving time for yourself is not a function of how much you did or didn’t accomplish that day. Deserving time for yourself is a function of the fact that you are alive and deserve to have time for yourself.”

There it is, plain and simple. Time for yourself is not a REWARD. It is not something that you deserve for AESTHETICS. It is not something you are entitled to after any kind of WORK. Being able to take time for yourself exists simply because YOU exist.

Now, its time to believe it and live it . . .

I got a fun weekend planned that includes a much needed girls night out!