March 4, 2019

Joélle Étienne

I'm Better Than You!

March 4, 2019

Joélle Étienne

...you're better than me.

Life is not a competition.

Don't think about how good you have to be, or who you have to be better than. You don't

have

to do or be anything. Think

back to when you first got into something that you love to do.

Why

did you want to do it in the first place? Because it brought you joy? you felt purpose by doing that certain activity? Yet once you've gone a certain distance, it isn't so fun anymore.

When did life stop being fun?

So tell me, who decides what we do well and what we should or should not do? Is it the judges, or the critics? Is it shame? Parents? A huge component that we often forget is that

all those who judge us are biased

—

that's what judging means. It's their OPINION, not hard, cold fact.

We judge people all the time

—

based on how they act, what they wear, who they hang out with. Critics and bosses do the same thing but their opinions are typed out, made public, and declared 'official'. They compare us to someone who is better than us. That's the problem most of us run into at some point

—

we compare ourselves to others, too

. The slap in the face of truth is that there will always be someone 'better'. Is this going to make you feel confident? Is it going to help you in any positive way? NO!!

You need to compare yourself... to yourself. How have you improved? What can you do better now that was hard before? Looking ahead is good, but glancing back at where you've been can boost your self-esteem.

Feeling sorry for yourself is NOT going to solve anything; it'll make

everything

worse.

When you're in a negative mood, everything feels harder, takes longer, and you won't improve as quickly

—

you won't enjoy what you do anymore if you don't have purpose. How are you going to get anywhere in life if you never have fun sometimes?

Keep trying, and never give up. You need to do things for yourself— not the trophy, not the job; not the satisfaction of being 'better' than someone else— but for the simple reason of loving what you're doing and enjoying it all.

February 18, 2019

Joélle Étienne

Hello, It's Joelle

February 18, 2019

Joélle Étienne

Happy Monday! I'm not feeling well, so I don't have a deeply thought-out post this week; HOWEVER, I was recently scrolling through my old videos on YouTube (you should check them out!) and stumbled across this lovely gem:

Ironically, I recorded this
song when I had quite the snuffly
cold, so I suppose the theme of
today's blog is don't let your
circumstance back you into a
corner.

As the journalist Germany Kent once said, “It's a funny thing about life, once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things that you lack.”

Make sure to take care of the big three— mind, body, and spirit— while making sure one is never neglected for another. It's important to take care of yourself in all aspects, especially your spirit: your soul, your love, and your joyfulness.

If I hadn't done something to lift my mood that day, I would have been letting my body overtake my spirit; after I finished recording, I rested for two days after to make sure my body was able to get better, too. I've learned over the years that a lifted spirit and a joyful, grateful heart will do more to heal your mind and body than other, more logical things might. What makes you truly joyful?

Joy isn't the same as happiness, it's a feeling of grateful excitement that comes from within, not from the things around you.

Remember, love yourself.

—Joelle

February 11, 2019

Joélle Étienne

I Love Myself

February 11, 2019

Joélle Étienne

Happy (Almost-) Valentine's day! I have a question for you: do you love yourself?*

It's a valid question, with a difficult answer. Maybe you like your personality, but not your physical body (that would be me, hellooo).

Maybe there are parts of yourself that you pray never see the light of day. Maybe you have an addiction. Maybe you self-harm. Maybe you starve yourself. Maybe you do all of this because you're listening to the demon in the mirror that tells you you're not good enough.

There is an idea in psychology called "self-concept" that condenses a lot of our self-deprecation into a short sentence:

self-con·cept
noun
1. An idea of the self; constructed from the beliefs one holds about oneself and the responses of others.

Don't let an idea of the self manipulate who you really are. You can love yourself, because God loves you, no matter who you think you are. You may think you're not worth it, but you are. When that demon in the mirror starts to talk, you shout back at it and say, "I am worth it! I am valuable! I love myself, I value myself!"** You are a creature of unique and beautiful design, and no one else has your soul.

This Valentine's day, and EVERY day, make sure you take care of yourself and encourage yourself. Think about it this way, in the words of Eleanor Roosevelt— "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."— not even you.

*BTS - Answer: Love Myself
**Hailee Steinfeld - Love Myself

today is day one

...you're better than me.