Okay- ‘vale’ -so we’ve talked about watching less TV, having more fun, practising being open and how precious life is… but to invest in your -INNER- self is probably the most important lesson I’m learning in my 20’s.
Perhaps more so in the West, we tend to think about investment in terms of success. Money. Careers. Relationships. Bikini bodies. Social media accounts. Wanting more. Buying more.
While I’m busy investing in being a better teacher, or eating better food, or writing better posts, or attracting better men, I often overlook the importance of investing in my inner self.
Take a car- if you get a flat tire, you fix it. You invest in comfortable leather. In a new paint job. In fancy, modern accessories. Yet you never forget about the engine. You don’t focus solely on how it looks on the outside.
We know that a car has little use if the core of it is damaged.
I think about my core. My engine. Do I check on it? Value it? Heck, do I even acknowledge it?
How can I invest in my inner self? What does that mean?
I think quite simply, I need to spend more of my time and energy looking inwards. Whether that’s facing demons and healing, or just getting to know WHO I am.
For the past 5 years, I’ve used travel to ‘invest in myself‘. There’s always some article about how travel changes your outlook, makes you a better, more rounded, individual. Etc.
But isn’t travel just another external, material ‘accessory’?
Doesn’t it seem odd that we have to fling ourselves across the world to find ourselves? That the purchase of a plane ticket is to invest in ourselves?
…
…
I could invest in a career or a relationship and see it all fall apart. I could invest in being more fashionable, more sexy, more WILD(!). But if you don’t invest in the inner core of you, everything else is superficial. (And probably doomed).
Visualise your core as an extremely unique seed. One of its kind. Love it. Listen to it. Feed it. Do away with anything that brings it harm.
Find the love in yourself, the spark, and allow it to FLOURISH. Then manifest it in everything you do.
If we can connect to the deepest part of ourselves… then what we are and aren’t, or what we can and cannot do, no longer exists.
Today I’m reminded to invest in my inner self to unlock the infinite potential that exists within me.
Within us all.
*This is part of my 2017 project to recall the lessons life throws at me so that 23 won’t just be another year like the others, but one of contemplation and growth. What have you learnt so far this year? Do you invest enough of your time and energy on your -inner- self? Do you nurture the seed, the very core of your being? What could investing in your inner self look like? What changes could it bring about in your life?
