Shallow

Did you read Friday's post? Immediately after I posted it I started thinking to myself, am I really this shallow? Then my husband got home and read it. When he got to this picture:

And read what I wrote he started laughing. When he was finished reading he told me that he had thought I was writing a sweet post about my family and the ones I care for. But  then I started going off about my hair. Although he didn't say it, I think he was probably thinking I was rather shallow as well.

All weekend I've been thinking about that question: am I really so shallow? And I guess the answer I came up with was yes. And no. The more I thought about it the more I realized that on days when I'm feeling shallow and thinking about my hair, clothes, make up and what have you I tend to have a harder time with accepting myself. On days when my thoughts are better engaged I tend to feel better about myself and am more comfortable where I'm at physically.

It's interesting, but our thoughts really have a lot of power. You wouldn't really think that worrying about what to wear to a party could send you down a long spiral of self-degrading thoughts, but it often does. I know it certainly did for me last Friday. When I'm shallow it feels as though I knock myself back down into the pit I have been trying to climb out of.

So how do we correct our shallow thoughts? I'm still working on that. Because let's be honest, we are all going to still bother about our hair and what outfit we should have for a specific event. We all still have to think about our size when we buy clothes, and those cares aren't just going to disappear. The challenge is thinking about those things in a way that doesn't create a dark aura on our feelings of self-worth.

One thing I think that does help is to step back and take it all into perspective. This takes a conscious effort, but really when you think about it objectively it likely doesn't matter what you wear or how you look. How you act, now that will leave a much longer impression.

So as I think about our next Holiday party I need to remember to step back and worry less about frivolous things and more about the things that truly matter. Any other thoughts on ways to keep your mind out of the pit?

Oh, and this cute girl that appeared in both of my pictures in my shallow post happens to be my sister. Isn't she beautiful? I think she is.

P.S. There's still time to sign up for the cookbook giveaway. Tonight I'm making a yummy chili that comes out of that book for dinner. So many delicious recipes. And something else I love about the book is that with each recipe it makes suggestions for what sides would be good and how to make the meal a total and complete meal. It takes a lot of guess work out of it for me. Sign up here.