What INSPIRES You?

I always feel like laughing (I don’t!) when someone tells me I “inspire” them. It happened just yesterday.

Are you off your f$ing rocker? You really need to raise your standards, I always think. Here I am, with my overgrown under-arms, a dent in my car (shhhh, don’t tell the hubs – it literally just came back from the shop when I scratched it again) and a mountain of unopened bills. I haven’t had the time to clean out my daughter’s school bag this week and yes – you guessed it – the smell this morning led me straight to rotten pear. Yip, it was…you know….just hanging there in a little corner underneath the reading card. 

We celebrated our anniversary recently, and I posted a sexy pic of us kids on a night out. “Inspired” were you?  Well, I had my head buried in editing work the week leading up to that lovely picture and barely said boo to the man. So, I thought I’d surprise him with a lovely gift. When it didn’t arrive, I called to complain (in my best “Karen” voice). The tech guy’s slow “Uh…m’am” told me he knew I was grey. ‘turns out I forgot to click “check-out” and PAY!  Who does that?

Someone blamed it on Mercury Retrograde. I blame it on life!  

Photo by Polina Tankilevitch

That said, I did remember to brush my teeth and to say THANK YOU this week:

• Thank you for the gift of good health

• Thank you that my son ate all the garnishes (read veggies) on his burger

• thank you for the laughs over brekkie, the hummus, the WhatsApps of love, gossip and friendship

And most importantly, thank you because I feel loved, supported and accepted by those I share my life with.

So, I’ve decided: I’ll take the compliment the next time someone says that they are “inspired”. That’s how I will know that it’s okay to just be (messy) ME.

Perhaps you’ll do the same? I, for one, will be soooooo inspired!

xoxo

Lee

P.S. My book is now available on Amazon Kindle. See the link below for more info:

https://leemayimele.com/buy-my-book/

Here’s something to help you with that Green-Eyed Monster

It’s school award season and I’ve been watching something with interest.

On the one hand, you have the proud parents posing with their children and the congratulatory comments from happy friends. Then there’s the ugly flip-side as the parents whose children did not win the big awards, turn to their friend’s Inboxes to whisper their conspiracies.

Yip, the Green-eyed monster is alive and well!

I have not engaged: Neither to post about my children’s achievements, nor to throw shade where invited.

HOW?

Well, it’s easy for me: I have a little symbol to whack me back into line.

This little symbol has always brought me back in line, helping me to ground myself in humility and also to avoid the temptation to compare. Photo by Jumana Dakkur

The Evil-Eye is traditionally a symbol to guard against jealousy but I use it as a note to self.

The one I wear on my arm is my daily reminder:

• Don’t boast – Nobody likes a show-off

• Don’t draw unnecessary attention to your home/relationship/material bounty – Envy is a biatch

• Run your race and let other people run theirs – It’s a win-win

• Count your own blessings and there will be no time to focus on other people’s – Gratitude 101

I’ve also learned from watching with interest how my muslim friends respond to a compliment (whether it be about their looks or the talents of their children) with the response,  Masha’Allah, that is, “God has willed it”. Don’t you love that show of humility?

Perhaps this will inspire you the next time you find yourself edging towards the territory of the Green-eyed one again? It’s always good to remember that blowing out someone else’s candles never makes ours shine any brighter,

Lee

**If you’d like to learn more about The Evil Eye, I found this Wikipedia entry quite interesting:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_eye#:~:text=The%20evil%20eye%20is%20a,person%20when%20one%20is%20unaware.

I also love that there’s finally an evil-eye emoji!:-)