The Difficult First Step
How our sense of value can get in the way
“You don’t value yourself enough and I think you should.”
It’s odd, yet wonderful, how so few words can have such an impact. Since someone said this to me a few days ago, it’s really stuck with me. It’s forced me to do some serious soul searching. A little cliche? Perhaps, but that’s the truth.
One of the realizations that I’ve come to, and the reason I’m writing this now, is because I came to see I had been putting off writing this first newsletter for this exact reason: I didn’t value myself.
How could I possibly provide anything of value to others where mental and psychical health and performance are concerned? Me who’s not a doctor, dietician or neuroscientist, just some amateur, albeit one who’s passionate. What do I really know about anything of this?
These are the kind of mental hurdles that we all face when trying something new or chasing a dream. It’s just one of the many examples of how our brains can simultaneously be both our best friend and worst enemy (part of the reason why the brain can be endlessly fascinating).
Despite all of this, however, I’ve decided to take my friend’s advice and value myself, and the knowledge and life expriences that I have. I’m taking the difficult first step of putting myself out there and publishing this newsletter.
That’s because I’ve come to understand that what I have been through, what I want to share with the world and say means something. Maybe not to everyone, but if one person’s life is somehow made better by this project, then I consider it well worth it.
But beyond just myself, and more than anything else, I want you to know that the lessons you’ve learned in life, the knowledge that you have, matters too.
And to you reading this, I would ask,
“Do you value yourself enough?”