Separating Your Who from Your Do

I want all of my type A, over-achieving, control freaks out there to raise their hands. Come on, even those of you who like to think there’s nothing wrong with being completely stressed out and angry 24/7. Or that you need to be doing something every waking minute in order to feel like you’re worth something.

Okay, now that we’ve admitted to needing to have a strangle-hold on life let’s take a deep breath and say, ‘My work does not define me.’

Or how about, ‘I am worthy of love and kindness no matter what I do for a living or otherwise.’

Or, ‘I’m happy with who I am no matter what I’m doing or not doing.’

Did you feel a slight sense of panic? Or a loss of control? I know I did and this is something I’ve been working on for several years. Ever since I watched Joyce Meyer speaking on separating your who from your do.

If you’re not familiar with Joyce Meyer I strongly urge you to watch or listen to one of her shows – even if you’re not a Christian. Skip the Christian part if you need to, but please listen to her. She radically changed my life and she will change your’s too.

I mean think about it, just for a second. Imagine not having to prove your worth every minute of every day. Imagine enjoying being yourself. Imagine not needing other people’s approval to feel good about yourself.

Please, just imagine…

I dare you not to feel the tiniest bit more relaxed just imagining it. And possibly even more empowered…

And isn’t that what we all want – to feel empowered. To live life on our own terms. To be able to breathe even just a little bit.

And how about for all the women in the world. Shouldn’t we feel empowered? Shouldn’t we be able to be feminists without being angry? Shouldn’t we be able to live our lives without needing to prove we’re equal to men?

Again, I urge you to listen, read, or watch Joyce Meyer. Men and women.

It can and will change your life and your relationship with others and, more importantly, yourself. It’s easy to forget that we have a relationship with ourselves and that it frames all of our other relationships. If we are so hard on ourselves that we can’t ever stop working, accomplishing, or producing just so we can feel okay then how much harder are we going to be on those around us.

What happens when the ones we love don’t live up to our standards? Hell, what happens when we don’t live up to our standards? Which is inevitable, since we are not perfect, not matter how hard we try.

So do yourself a favor figure out a way to separate your who from your do. Your friends and family will thank you. And I will even go so far as to say that you may start to actually enjoy your life…