Why you need to prioritize self-compassion

On being okay with where you are and being nice to yourself

Hi friends & new subscribers,

How are you?

This week has been a slow and very confusing week for me.

You see, I started my whole journey because I wanted to leave my nursing job.

But this past week, I've been liking where I am at.

I don't even have the strong desire to leave my job anymore, not because I'm comfortable. But because I like going to work sometimes.

People keep asking me, "when are you leaving your job?" to which I respond, "why do you assume that I want to leave nursing?"

Maybe I'm giving off that vibe. I don't know. Maybe I've implied it multiple times. I can't remember.

But people see my creative pursuit, and they think that it's only a matter of time that I leave my job. They might be wrong.

And the truth is, I don't hate my job.

I don't like the healthcare system. I don't like when I get disrespected by my own colleagues or the patients or their family members.

There are so many things to dislike about it, but being a nurse is one of my most proud "identities" because this is where I genuinely get to help people.

Like, literally.

But there's a story that I read by Khe Hy that got stuck with me. He said that he knew to leave his fancy Wall Street job because he was being pulled to the creative pursuit, but he wasn't pushed by his disconnection with his current job.

"What do you say to people who ask if they should follow your lead and just quit their job to pursue their dreams?

The first thing I say is that you shouldn't quit your job. It's much harder than it looks. The second thing is, the question is are you being pushed or pulled toward something? If you're running away from something by quitting your job, you'll probably still be running away from that thing once you've quit. However, if you feel this pull, like, there is this thing in me that I can't stop thinking about it, then it might be worth investigating more." - Barrons

That resonated with me.

Because I really do believe that if you're unhappy in your current situation, a change of scenery will make you happy for maybe two days.

You'll keep jumping onto new things. But what you really need is to explore the problem, unhappiness or unfulfillment in your current reality.

You have to be okay with where you are right now.

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On prioritizing self-compassion

Being super active on social media, I've put my spiritual practices less of a priority. Like, meditating every night, writing for my soul, and being comfortable with not doing anything.

And now that I'm slowly doing that, I feel like I'm aligned again.

And when I notice that I'm "judging" or becoming critical of myself because of my expectation of where I should be, I'm more compassionate towards myself.

For example, when I spend more time on social media than I want to, I slowly acknowledge the action rather than just suddenly turning off my phone and putting it away.

Then, I tell myself, "you're good, you got this, you can slowly put your phone down away, no judgement. You like yourself enough that you deserve to do things that you love besides scrolling on autopilot on social media".

And I've been practicing this for the past week, and any time that I feel like "I'm judging myself or critiquing" my actions, I try to remind myself that I can improve my situation while practicing self-compassion.

If you're not nice to yourself, how do you expect others to be nice to you?

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My question for you this week:

How compassionate am I to myself in calm and stressful times?

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P.S. Last week, I got a 46% open rate (how many people opened my newsletter) since I started this newsletter. How crazyyyyy.

Thank you to those who continuously read my words and give me the courage to always speak from the heart.

If there is anything at all that I can help you with, please let me know by replying to this email or DM-ing me on Twitter.