AND & YET 2 very powerful words that are not given proper credit.

Hey guys, I hope everyone is doing well this week! I wanted to have a quick talk about 2 words that are powerful and not given the credit they deserve. This last week the resounding theme that I heard over and over is that people are not where they want to be and they believe they can only have one feeling about a certain situation. What I am here to say is that we need to add AND & YET into our self talk vocabulary. I spent a lot of time this week helping clients to see that you can be sad AND hopeful about a situation. You can hurt AND have compassion. There is no limit on what we are capable of feeling at any given time. Just because we have a big feeling in one direction, does not mean that is the only feeling we can have. I think this is so important to have a conversation about because often we feel like if we have conflicting thoughts that means we are confused on how we feel and that is just not the truth. There have been several instances where I am really sad about something, but also understanding about it. When we decided to move from California to Texas, I was excited AND terrified. Our families were happy for us AND sad for them. It is absolute okay to have and recognize two different feelings. We just have to learn to give ourselves space to process our feelings and know that we are humans and have a very complex brain that allows us to have a multitude of feelings at any given time.

The other important word I wanted to talk about is YET! We forget that life is ever changing and that just because we are not where we want to be at a given time, does not mean we will not get there. We need to remind ourselves that we are not there YET. I will be totally honest and admit that I have struggled with this one myself lately. When I decided to leave a steady paycheck working in education and jump into full time private practice, I knew it would be hard, but I have been way harder on myself than what I need to be or deserve. There have been several times that I have got down on myself because I am not booked as full as I want to be. I have had to learn to remind myself (sometimes daily) that I am not where I want to be YET. By utilizing this word in my self talks I am giving myself permission to acknowledge that I am not where I want to be, but I am working on my goals and doing what I can to get where I want to go. I am anxious about where I am AND hopeful for where I will go.

I hope this short blog resonates with some of you, as I know we are often too hard on ourselves and that is sometimes a hard thing to change. My goal this week is to offer an easy way to make small changes regarding how we talk to ourselves, and help us all learn to have a little more grace with ourselves!

Have a great week all, and please feel free to reach out with any questions!!!