Find Courage to Invest in Yourself!

What does it mean to invest in yourself?

1. Investing in yourself means looking at yourself and determining that you are worth your own time.
2. Investing in yourself means you are worth your money.
3. Investing in yourself means you are worth your effort.
4. Investing your time means that you engage in activities which are calculated to bring you meaningful rewards.

What questions do you need to ask yourself?

1. What type of investments should I make? School? Exercise? Meditation? Therapy? Coaching? Financial Investments? Retreats? Vacations?
2. How much do I value myself?
3. What do I need?
4. What do I want?
5. Do I place everyone else and their needs first?
6. Am I waiting until I have a certain amount of money in the bank before I invest in myself?
7. Am I depressed?
8. Am I confused about what steps to take or how to begin?

Investing in yourself creates more questions than answers but, in my experience, I found certain types of investments easier to make than others. It was easy for me to invest in things that benefitted me outwardly and physically such as tennis lessons or yoga classes. Even investing time for a free adult-ed class on financial planning was an easy decision to make.

It was harder for me, though, to invest in the things that would help me emotionally and spiritually because I was too afraid to look at myself that deeply. I didn’t want to go there because, truthfully, I didn’t value myself at all. I didn’t feel I was worth this effort because I felt fundamentally flawed and believed no amount of effort could help me. My fear of being shamed was too powerful.

This changed for me when I chose to become a sober woman. I made a decision to value myself. I decided to change my destiny from one of loneliness and despair to a destiny of love and purpose. This took courage. I had to tell the truth to doctors, therapists, people in 12-step groups and, most lately, a coach. I chose to invest in myself by getting honest and by changing the things I could change, accepting the things I couldn’t change at all, leaving an environment that was dangerous for me, going back to school to increase my skills as well as pursuing a post-graduate degree.

As Stephen Covey said in the quote above, “Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.” And, this has been true for me. Self-growth is hard, emotional, tender and challenging work but work that has been well worth it. I love that he says, “it’s holy ground.” It’s holy because we are spiritual beings in a human existence that can often resemble a mine-field. When you find the courage to invest in yourself, don’t do it alone. Find people who have walked the same path and people who are professionals because you are worth it. If you’ve found enough courage to invest in yourself, call me. I’m ready to listen. I’m ready to help.

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The secret to happiness is freedom… And the secret to freedom is courage.

~ Thucydides