An excerpt from something I read today:
“I realized that I have been living for the emotional scraps of approval—not from strangers, but from my husband. He loves slow, lazy Sundays; I love Sundays that feed me—meditation, a run, reading, a workshop. To keep the peace, I’ve been bending toward his rhythm: cramming ‘me’ into Saturday and then drifting through Sunday beside him. The cost has been a low-grade guilt and the quiet ache of self-abandonment; I end too many weekends disappointed in myself. So I’m recalibrating. I’m not asking him to change; I’m choosing to keep one promise to myself before I keep any to anyone else. ‘Me-First Sundays’ start now: 7–11 AM are mine—long meditation, a run, a chapter, and one learning block—then shared downtime together. I want my weekends to end with pride, not apology. I choose aliveness over approval.”
One more time for the people who skimmed: “I’m not asking him to change; I’m choosing to keep one promise to myself before I keep any to anyone else.”
Because keeping promises to others at the expense of keeping promises to yourself leads to “cramming”, “low-grade guilt”, feelings of “self-abandonment”, “disappointment”—and those are just the writer’s words…
…Think about what it leads to for you.