STOP HITTING YOURSELF | PERSONAL | MARYLAND WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER | ASHTON KELLEY PHOTOGRAPHY

STOP HITTING YOURSELF

Remember that game your older sibling or Uncle played with you? You were little, so they were much stronger and they would grab your hands and push them softly against your face in a punching motion. “Stop hitting yourself,” they’d joke. You likely both giggled through it, or you LITERALLY cried “uncle” until it came to a stop. The game is usually harmless, but I started thinking about the phrase and it just ran so deep this morning.

“Stop hitting yourself.”

We do it all the time. We don’t need an older sibling or uncle to do it for us. We live in a society where we do a pretty good job at being our own punching bag. And we’re rough with it.

Whether you try to rise above competition or not, it’s there. It lurks in a corner waiting for you to let down your guard and have a vulnerable moment, a bad day, where it can creep in and snatch up your happiness. Sometimes it’s for a moment, maybe ten minutes, and other times it can affect you for days and weeks. You question your worth, you value it against other people’s “success,” and your find yourself in a pit of despair. It will literally consume you, and you know what? You are doing it to yourself.

You are choosing to waste time and energy on what someone else has accomplished. You are choosing to focus on what has already been done, rather than what you can do. You are giving up valuable opportunities to love your clients, build your business, or be with your family. YOU are the only person who can enable those feelings to continue.

I know, I know. I sound pretty confident sitting here on my pedestal from behind a computer. I’ll be completely honest when I say that I go through phases like this on a monthly, if not weekly, basis. I’ve had to deal with my depression from an early age. I’ve been shamed for it, misunderstood, judged, and I’ve lost relationships over my own insecurities. I can share that, because admitting who I am has also empowered me. It’s led me to real, authentic friendships where I am not only accepted, but loved for who I am. Perhaps it isn’t something I speak of often, but it’s always there-lurking in the corner-but I know that I’m not alone.

So, let me ask you this: “How are you?”

If you’re answer is similar to the content of this blog, take a second to write today. Write about those underlying fears and worries. Write about what you really want to accomplish. Write down all the things you have been afraid to say. Write everything you’re feeling, cry it out, and then DO something. If you had goals, start working toward them. Make a change, right now and set a new course for yourself. You can pick THIS moment, so why not?

Stop hitting yourself. xoxo!

-Ash