Who Are You Listening To?

I was having a pity party. My to-do list was overflowing. My schedule was over crowded. My children’s activities had me way overbooked. To top it off, I had nothing to wear! I felt inadequate, and highly underpaid.

I looked in the mirror and all I saw reflecting was a girl with an overwhelming amount of flaws.

Have you ever been there?

My three-year-old daughter just started riding a bike. It is one of those Strider bikes where she uses her feet to gain momentum and then she picks them up and glides with ease. Her favorite path to take on our rides is the one with the huge, winding hill. With just a couple running steps, she speeds down the hill, never looking back.

The thing with hills, though, is you always have to go back up.

She waits for me at the bottom, unfazed by the blonde ringlets sticking to her face underneath her pink princess helmet.

“Ready, mom?” she asks as I finally reach her.

“Ready!” I agree as I turn back around and prepare to push a stroller carrying her thirty-pound brother up the seemingly never-ending hill.

Lost in my own self-deprecating thoughts, I hear her. She is talking to herself.

“You can do this! You got this! You are a good bike rider!” Up she pushed on a hill that probably looked mountain sized to a pint sized three-year-old. Each time she stopped to regain her balance, she reminded herself, “You’re a good bike rider!”

What happens to our three-year-old voice? The voice that screams, “I can!”

When my little girl looks in the mirror, she sees a reflection of potential and possibility. She is confident in who she sees. Even when facing the steepest of barriers. As her mother, I don’t want her to lose that. Ever! It made me sad to think she would ever talk to herself the way I was speaking to myself. 

What voice is in your head? Who are you listening to?

If it is not a voice that reassures you, believes in you, and loves you, then evict her! Find that tiny voice inside you that says, “I can do this. I got this. I am good!”

Feed her. Listen to her. Believe her. Then pick up your feet, and glide with ease!
Play Now, Play YOU!

XO, Coach D

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