Pumpkin Spice & Being Nice

I recently was shopping at T.J. Maxx...if you know me, you know I spend half my paycheck here. Seriously...it's becoming a problem. I wanted to buy a Halloween coffee mug to get me in the spirit of the holiday and I knew they would have just what I was looking for...and probably more. After shopping around for a mug (and maybe picking up a few extra goodies along the way😉) I found the perfect Cup of Joe that said "Trick or Treat Yo'Self." And I of course bought it! It was super adorable and very Halloween-ie (can that be a word, please). I use it everyday now and it just makes my morning pumpkin spice coffee that much more enjoyable as I warm up in my soft blankets and prepare for my day ahead. If you can't tell already, I just love the Fall time!

I think I liked this mug the most because the saying "treat yo'self" is usually what I use when I want to splurge at the makeup store or in this case T.J. Maxx. Even when I know I don't need whatever it is I am buying, I just want to treat myself. And I know I am not the only one who says this when they want to justify their purchases, lol! But seriously, this quote got me thinking of how I treat myself on a much more deeper level and not just buying another unnecessary coffee mug when I know I have a cabinet full of them at home - it's a problem, I know. Rather things I have learned as I've grown into a young adult and how I keep working on myself to become a better person everyday.

"Treat others the way you want to be treated." I am almost 110% positive you have heard this famous line at least a thousand times in your life. Whether it was a teacher telling you, a parent, or any authority figure you had growing up, you know exactly what it means. That simple phrase we all heard so much throughout our childhood may sound cliché as an adult but it still holds the same moral value today that it did back then as kids.

But my question that I began to wonder was "Why were we never taught 'treat yourself the way you want to be treated' ?" Not to say treating others isn't as important- believe me, it is! I listened to my parents and teachers when they told me treat others with kindness & now I teach my preschool students this in hopes to inspire them to simply be a good person in this world. It is truly an inevitable life lesson to be taught.

What I mean by all this is we are all human- we all crave the love and affection we deserve. We can ALL treat others the way we want to be treated even if that means different things to different people. It interprets the same message to all humankind.

So think about it and ask yourself, "do I treat myself the way I want to be treated?" It could sound sort-of selfish but, we need to be selfish sometimes in order for us to be happy. We can think so positively towards others that we may forget to think that way about ourselves. In a society where Instagram models look "picture perfect" and the diet culture is pretty much shoved down our throats it can be hard to look in the mirror and NOT think of what's "wrong with myself."

This is something I struggle with...I think we all do. And I work on it all the time and what I have learned is you will never be 100% satisfied with yourself until you start treating yourself how you should treat others, which is with love & care!

You want someone to tell you that you're beautiful? Look in the mirror and believe it.

You want someone to acknowledge how hard you work? Acknowledge yourself and your incredible work ethic.

You want to be loved by someone? Well, love yourself first. It really starts with you, the person you are stuck with everyday for the rest of your life. So treat that person right AND treat others right. We all need ourselves...and each other. So spread love. xo

Simply,

Jamie Lyn