Reflect

Starting at an early age we are told things by adults, peers, and society that make us feel loved or not-so-loved, nurtured or neglected, at home in our bodies or foreign to them, worthy or unworthy. These external messages pile up over time and can become the internal beliefs we now say to ourselves. Life can feel like a game of trying to fit in, even though what our heart needs is to belong. Mariah Fenton Gladis said, “When I was diagnosed with ALS, I knew that if I assumed the identity of a dead woman walking, I would in effect be participating in my own downward cycle.” She learned that she “needed a close, compassionate connection with every cell in my body, every step of the way, and I needed to talk to myself like I would to a treasured child: ‘Mariah, I love you, and I will be with you through this every day until you draw your last breath.” To thrive, we need to talk to ourselves like a treasured child, especially when society attempts to make us feel unloved or unloveable.