Journal prompt: What do I most love about myself…
What I most love about myself? The journal prompt from Tuesday at Ten. What a tricky question. Not only is there the hesitancy to say – I’m great – but I struggle with the word ‘most’. In highlighting one aspect of my life I seem to diminish another. Same with the word best – the best part of me – making one part more significant than another.
Recently we’ve been talking to Little Miss (3) about the idea of best friends – and it is a conversation I had with my own kids too. As soon as we label someone my best friend it reduces all my other friendships to be less than. It is more about what it says to my other friends – are they not valued? Do they lack in some way?
Same with what I love most about myself – I am many faceted and I like different parts of me, but not necessarily in a preference order – which the word ‘most’ infers. So here are some of the things that I like about myself:
- I love that I am relational based – I probably have nothing to do with this in that it is probably a part of how I have been created, but I have fostered this aspect and have built my daily life on the principle of people come first.
- That I am hospitable and I can do messy-hospitality, meaning my house doesn’t have to be perfect, food doesn’t have to be well planned and executed; it is about being together even if it is over a packet of Arnott’s biscuits.
- That I am a life-long learner – that learning is a part of what I do. Homeschooling has certainly made me more aware of the world around me, but I also learn things for my own sake – I particularly like that I have learnt many aspects to using and keeping up to date with digital technology.
- That I am creative – once again, probably a part of how I am made – but I make time for creativity, I value creativity both in myself, in my kids and in others. Because I value creativity I make time for it.
- That I can acknowledge things that I am good at – otherwise I couldn’t write this list! But I can self-assess myself without feeling I am being proud.
- That I have parented each of my four unique children differently from each other – I try and parent to a value, and acknowledge that the journey toward that value will be different.
- That I see the world through objective truth – that regardless of how I feel God is still God and He loves me, died for me so that I could be forgiven and have a relationship with God and He rose from the dead for me so that I could have life (joy and purpose) here on earth.
There you have it – some things I like about myself and a good opportunity for you to get to know me.
I actually asked this question of my family this morning over breakfast. It opened up some good conversations both in terms of responding (or reacting) to the question, but also as each person was honest and answered the question. So maybe it is something you could ask your kids next family meal time.
Sharing at Tuesday at Ten
