It’s hard to take a stand for yourself in a world that rewards you when you ignore the pain in your body, the tiredness in your bones, and the gnawing feeling in your gut that something just isn’t right.

And when you’ve been taught that your value comes from doing things for others while sacrificing your own needs, the idea of stepping out of that can seem impossible.

That’s why the most challenging part of learning to really honor yourself is choosing to do it, fully, audaciously, and whole-heartedly.

Because there are so many fears that come up inside of us when we think about honoring ourselves. If you were to really honor yourself, you fear you might…

Disappoint someone else
Appear imperfect
Come across as “unprofessional”
Be thought of as selfish, high maintenance and vain
Miss an opportunity
Lose love
Fall behind
Never fulfill your potential
Fail completely
Go bankrupt
Create upheaval and chaos
Lose everything you’ve worked so hard to achieve
Have to start all over again

These fears are no joke, and neither is the decision to take a stand and honor yourself.

Because choosing to honor yourself isn’t a one-time decision. It’s a continual process of discovering and committing to yourself. It’s nothing short of life changing.

And it flies directly in the face of everything you’ve been taught you need to be and do in order to be successful, earn love and acceptance, be a competitor, and contribute something of value to the world.

But I’m not okay with you sacrificing yourself – the best, most powerful, most beautiful part of yourself – in order to meet the standards, expectations and agendas of the world around you.

I’m not okay with you feeling like the only way you can operate and succeed in the world is by abandoning and harming yourself in the process.

And I’m definitely not okay with the burgeoning epidemic of women who are exhausted, burnt out and facing utter physical collapse because they’ve been compulsively pushing, going, and doing at the expense of their vitality, beauty and joy.

I’m not okay with any of this, anymore. I’m not okay with doing it, and I’m not okay with the cultural standard that demands this of us, either.

The real question here is this: Is it really okay with you?