"This Sh*t is Hard!"

Okay, so that's not a direct quote, actually, but I sometimes suspect it's what my clients are thinking about their life coaching work. What is so hard, anyway, about this stuff?

Being a life coaching client requires that you are ready to take action in your life. It requires that you're ready to commit to finally making the changes it'll take to get what's on the outside of you to match who you are deeply, inside, under all those layers of shoulds and what ifs and ought tos and all that stuff that keeps us small and unempowered. And it requires that, when the going gets tough (because it will), you'll at least consider the idea of "keep going!" In essence, it requires that, once and for all, you radically become your very own best friend, and you treat yourself and your life as such.

I just finished SARK's latest juicy book, Fabulous Friendship Festival, in which the whole first chapter is dedicated to "Self Friendship." Here's an excerpt from page 21:

"Friendship with yourself means that you maintain the relationship, no matter what else happens in your life. Many of us turn away from self-friendship when or if things feel difficult. We might feel or think that being friends with ourselves doesn't provide enough of what we need. It is easy to think that something outside of ourselves might be better, easier or more fun. Or, we might just feel tired of ourselves...Self-friendship requires time and practice. This practice calls for us to be friendly with all the parts of ourselves we might consider ugly or unworthy. (Being 'friendly with all the parts' doesn't mean you need to like it--you just need to feel it.)"

So, how do you know when you've turned away from yourself?

What's the first thing you would do differently today, if you decided to be your very own best friend?

And if you look around your life, when are the times that you abandon yourself? When do you need your self-friendship the most?

I invite you to consider these questions...and not only that, act on them! You are hereby encouraged to not abandon yourself by just thinking about the answers. Do something radical today...do what it takes to start becoming your own best friend!