Be Careful About What You Fill Your Cup With—It Could Change Your Life

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How we deal with issues and shape our lives is a pretty hot topic these days. So many people seem to be going through some kind of battle to just move forward.

These are the things I’ve heard the most and have talked about:

Setting your intention for your life.

Owning up to your own crap, regardless of how difficult it is.

Finding your way and putting yourself first.

Releasing unrealistic expectations and focusing on making progress in your own life.

These are all things that have a direct impact on our lives — our mental, spiritual, and emotional health — things we sometimes do not realize we are doing until we are so overwhelmed and reaching a breaking point.

Depression and anxiety are at an all-time high right now. In fact these feelings are growing bigger and bigger, because nine times out of 10, we are not doing anything to help ourselves. We just keep going through the motions and helping others fight their battles while ours are getting worse. We constantly put ourselves on the back burner over and over.

It’s much like what happens to boiling water if you leave it on the burner long enough. It dries up and the pot becomes empty. Much like a cup of any drink, we drink whatever is in that cup to a point where nothing is left. What we do for ourselves or allow others to do is very much the same.

We can ignore our internal battles of grief, depression, addiction, or whatever, but if we are not doing anything to FILL ourselves with the positivity or help we need to overcome these things, we eventually will run dry — empty. At that point, we actually start to fill our cup with things that drive us further into negativity. Our cup begins to overflow with anger, resentment, judgement, lack of patience, and no desire to do ANYTHING except remain in that negative space because it is so much easier.

We do not realize that our negativity impacts others and pushes people away. We do not realize that our actions become the actions of our children or significant other. We do not realize the negativity that we allow out of our mouths makes people question us as a person. “Well if they are talking about this person who they are around so much, what are they saying about me?”

I know this because I used to be that person. I always took the easy road. I refuse to be that person anymore. My struggles were no one’s fault but my own. Yes, some struggles were out of my control, but how I responded to them was in my control. I have had many battles of depression. I have lost people unexpectedly, one after another. I have fought battles I never thought I would have to fight. I have realized people do not care for me the way I care for them. These are not easy things to deal with, and when you feel wholeheartedly about things the way I do, these things hurt like hell. I can sit here and fester in all of it and do nothing OR I can find ways to overcome it. I can focus on the positivity I can gain from it. I can talk to someone who can help me. I can remind myself I have one life and my family deserves to have the best version of me and I need to do whatever is takes to get there. I can be honest with myself and remind myself that it is okay to have these moments, but it is not okay to do nothing about it. 2019 came to an end fast, and I have been in a fight of continued growth and I will not stop.

It is not worth losing yourself and those around you. Accept the tough love and build yourself back up. Let God move through you.

Make this your best year, my friend. Not because it’s a new year, but because you love yourself enough to do it.