Badassery Magazine August 2018 Issue 27 | Page 54

stuff. The truth is... you CAN! Don’t worry about how Aunt Ruth will feel when you donate the sweater she gave you when you were 10. Stop obsessing over how your friends will react if you stop drinking coffee or quit eating sugar. Or what people will think of you if you end that toxic relationship that’s been dragging you down. Give yourself permission to make the changes you need to make to get your life back. 3. MAKE YOURSELF A PRIORITY. Somewhere along the way, we all started believing the myth that taking care of yourself is a bad thing. Yes, we don’t want to walk around as conceited, self-centered human beings. And we do want to help others as much as possible. But, it doesn’t have to be an either/ or situation with taking care of yourself. 54 • BADASSERY MAGAZINE Chances are, the reason you got to the point in your life where you’re stressed, sick, run down, confused and overwhelmed is because you stopping taking proper care of yourself. And ironically, when you don’t take care of yourself, you’re really not going to be of much use to anyone else either... so it kind of defeats the point! Don’t feel bad for making your own health and well being a priority. If you’re not going to take care of you, then who is? Take the time and make the effort to create a safe and welcoming space around you. To make healthy meals and use products that aren’t toxic to your body. And to let go of old emotional baggage that has been holding you down. If you don’t stop to get your life in order now, you’ll blink and will have lost the chance to do so. Don’t wait. 4. STOP PICKING UP CRAP. Now, please note - I’m not referring to your dog here. I think I can speak for the collective society at large when I say we all would appreciate it if you would continue to pick up after Fido. But, outside of that... stop picking up crap. To me, this is one of the most exciting parts of simplifying your life. Once you start to do it, your entire perspective changes. You are able to see much more clearly what you need in your life and what you don’t. Which makes it much easier to stop picking up new crap. Once you do a major purge of your clutter, you become more aware of your buying habits and gain a new superpower where you can actually pass by the dollar bins at Target and not buy something. (Gasp!) Once you start putting healthy food in your body and cut out all the toxic stuff and realize how amazing you actually can feel (without any magic pill!), your ability to turn down the junk food gets much stronger. And once you finally let go of those limiting beliefs that have been holding you back since your teenage years (or longer), you will not stand for believing any of that crap for one