Not Dabbling in Normal

I've been learning that my worth doesn't come from other people. I often want it to-- I want my husband and children and parents and friends and siblings to tell me how beautiful I am, how perfect I am, how much they adore me, how I should never change. I want them to be the perfect loved ones, and then I'll know they love me and I'm OK. But they aren't perfect, and they don't generally shower me with compliments. And even when they do, I don't really believe them.

The truth is that whether I believe them or not, I am loved and I am OK as I am. I don't want to look for love and worth from others, and I don't want to compare myself to other people, trying to be like them or different from them; instead I want to be fully, completely, authentically, curiously, creatively, lovingly ME. Only from that space can I take in the compliments I do get and spread more compliments to others. The only comparing I want to do is with myself, by continually clarifying my purposes, getting more intentional, learning how to improve in different ways, taking responsibility for my actions, and going for deeper connections.

When Kathie invited me to be part of a collaborative blog project called Women Not Dabbling in Normal, I realized that, for me, calling myself "not normal" doesn't mean I'm comparing myself to others, but that I am on my own glorious path of purposefulness. I'm honored to say that I've joined a group of amazing women who will sing the songs of their lives in Women Not Dabbling in Normal. There are 6 of us-- Kathie from Two Frog Home, Robbyn from The Back Forty, Kristine from Dancing in a Field of Tansy, Gina from Caludron Ridge Farm, Phelan from A Homesteading Neophyte, and me. We each post one day per week (I'll be writing on Mondays), with Fridays reserved for answering reader questions. I hope you'll check it out; I'm looking forward to what comes.