| Caridad Pineiro® Romance Author

My wonderful friend Jayne came over this week to help me assemble some wedding favors and while we worked we talked about our respective struggles to lose weight. Jayne was an inspiration to me with all the weight she lost and when I mentioned a setback this week in my weight loss goals, she offered this pearl of wisdom she had learned from her weight loss group: You have to learn to forgive yourself when you suffer a setback like that.

Think about it. If someone does something you don’t like and you call them on it, but they apologize, you forgive them, right? You don’t beat them over the head over and over again about it (we hope).

So why do we do that to ourselves and not just about weight loss? We do it over our jobs, friendships, husbands, children, etc. We sometimes hold ourselves up to standards that are unreasonable and which may lead us to self-doubt or worse, self-loathing.

So today’s Motivation Monday is about being able to forgive yourself. If you’ve fallen down, dust yourself off, get up, and try again with a fresh slate thanks to forgiveness. I did and was able to get back on track!

Most people think that with over 50 published works in 20 years that I can just sit down and write and write and write. Many know that I normally have a strict regimen of writing every day (work and family permitting). But like many there are moments when self-doubt grabs me and drags me down, especially in this constantly changing publishing landscape. Self-doubt is one of the most debilitating things in life and not just for writing. It can become an anchor that can keep you from success at whatever you want out of life regardless of whether it’s a relationship, career or writing. When those moments come on me, I tell myself to look not at what’s not been done, but at what’s been accomplished. I tell myself that the person who did all that can do anything they absolutely want to do. The only thing standing in the way is my own self-doubt. If you have those moments as well, take a second to share what helps you get over them and move on.

Original Image by Jean van der Meulen from Pixabay