Give yourself credit.

But actually. We’re all working so hard all the time to build this beautiful life that we forget we’re already in said beautiful life.

I learned this recently during an all-encompassing project where my friends and I lived in the house we were working on. The to-do list was never ending and we were so focused on what still needed to be done that we hadn’t really considered everything we had already accomplished. We held a showcase towards the end— cleaned up, put away our workstations and sipped wine while we toured guests around the space and talked each other up while explaining processes and anecdotes. All this to say that I was blown away. It felt like a showcase to ourselves, so revealing and inspiring.

I try to do a mini version of this whenever I’m feeling overwhelmed or down on myself. I make a list of accomplishments from the last few months and I don’t brush over the effort it took. Even for the tiniest things like paying a parking ticket online that kept glitching at the last minute and used up all my emotional energy for the evening that could have been used on something more worthwhile.

Try it with friends for an amusing burst of support and credit.

Also hell yes to the physical calendar.