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The Art of Giving Yourself Grace
Grace, like light, is a stunning duality: it is gentleness and strength at the same time
A junior colleague and I were debriefing a presentation when she, eyes cast downward, said, “I’m trying to give myself grace”.
Our clients were dissatisfied with the presentation, and so was my colleague with herself. New to the brief, she was still familiarizing herself with it. But altogether, the whole team struggled and groped our way through solving it. Still, she felt bad thinking that despite her best efforts, she failed to manage the way she hoped she would.
It’s a hard pill to swallow: even if we give something our best shot, we still miss the mark.
When that happens, how do you extend yourself grace?
How do you stop reprimanding, judging, punishing yourself for falling short of expectations, whether they’re someone else’s or your own? How do you give yourself a break or cut yourself some slack or stop beating yourself up or be kind to yourself or whatever it is they say to console you?
When I began writing during the pandemic — unemployed, stuck indoors, with all the time in the world — I fired out as many as four posts weekly. Today I struggle to publish one newsletter in a month. It’s depressing to think…