My crew. This is so important.
Neither struggle nor sacrifice equate to love.
For those of you who code: (struggle != love) && (sacrifice != love)
I see so many people out there thinking they have to *do* to get love. Or that they have to *earn* love. That struggling and sacrificing is a way of *proving* their love.
My dad sacrificed a lot. He worked very hard. And I knew I was loved. But I also remember him coming home with burns on his hands, and I remember that I barely got to see him during the week because he’d come home, eat, watch the news, and then go to bed because he had to be up so early the next day.
My mom was always trying so hard to cook really good meals (and she did!) but my favorite meal was macaroni and cheese with hot dogs. She might have considered that a failure as a mom; something she made because she was too tired to make anything else. I considered it a delicacy.
For those of you with children, not equating sacrifice or struggle with love is even more important. Children pick up on what is modeled to them. Do you want your kids to think that in order to receive love from someone, they need to put everyone else’s needs before their own, and sacrifice themselves in order to *earn* love?
Sacrificing and working hard to show others you love them generally just ends in us being bitter and resenting those people for not appreciating us enough.
And here’s the thing. You don’t need to earn love. You are worthy of love just because you *ARE*.
Show up for yourself. Love yourself. Be the best you that you know how to be. And watch as others start showing up and loving you too!