I’ve been thinking about you all a lot lately as I’ve been reading a new book. When I say “reading” I really mean devouring. Picture someone who hasn’t eaten in a long time with a giant plate of gooey ribs in front of them. Grabbing two in each hand, chewing off every little bit of goodness, not caring how messy their face, hands, clothes, table get. That’s me with this book. I’ve got so much to say about what I’ve been learning. Here’s a nugget…or one gooey rib.

John Maxwell’s “The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth”
Law #3: The Law of the Mirror
You must see value in yourself to add value to yourself

Point #5: “One of the best ways to build self-esteem is to do what’s right.
What happens when you don’t do the right thing? Either you feel guilt, which makes you feel bad about yourself, or you lie to yourself to try to convince yourself that your actions weren’t wrong or weren’t that important.
Every time you take action that builds your character, you become stronger as a person – the harder the task, the greater the character builder. You can actually ‘act yourself’ into feeling good about yourself, because positive character expands into every area of your life, giving you confidence and positive feelings about everything you do.”

I’ve found this to be EXACTLY spot on with my depression journey. On the days when I do drum up enough inside me to do something I should do I feel so accomplished at the end of the day. It doesn’t have to be the entire day that I’m doing whatever this thing is, it can be something small…making those phone calls I’ve been putting off, or finally cleaning that one corner of the room that always gets filled with junk, or pushing myself to work out (and then working out longer than 20 minutes!). On the flip side, when I don’t do the right thing that day, I go to bed feeling terrible about who I am as a person. Much negative self-talk runs through my head and I wake up the next morning still feeling it.

I don’t believe that depression comes from low self-esteem but I do believe that the longer I’m dealing with depression the worse my self-esteem gets. And I’m finding that the more I work to build my character the easier it is to make choices that help me, instead of making me worse.

So I ask you, what one thing can YOU do today that will allow you to go to bed tonight feeling the satisfaction that you did the right thing?