Be Gentle

BE GENTLE

Be gentle with yourself.

Be gentle with others.

This may be someone’s last day with someone they love.

This may be someone’s first day alone.

This may be someone’s last sunset.

This may be someone’s first sunrise.

Treat yourself and others with grace 

and be gentle with your words and expectations 

while being generous with your love and hugs.

I wrote the above sentiment on social media a few days ago and it seemed to resonate with so many. I was immediately asked, "Can I share this?" I'm not sure if it's the time of year, the state of affairs in the world, or exactly what it is, but we are so hard on ourselves. We all know people who wish they had what their friends have. When I was growing up we would say "he's trying to keep up with the Jones's," and I'm not sure if anyone says that anymore, but many of you know what I mean.

Back in the 70s and 80s "keeping up with the Jones's" didn't get much deeper than the car they drove or the house they lived in. We saw what was happening outside their homes. Sometimes we knew where they worked and maybe we envied their clothing. There weren't cell phones. There wasn't social media. I won't even tell you about the cassette tapes and hour of my time it took to load PacMan on to my Commodore, but back on topic...

Now, I can take a picture with my cell phone and the world knows how messy my kitchen is, the brand of coffee pot I use, how many dishes are (or are not) in my sink, and the list goes on and on. Instead of noticing that the neighbors are gone and wondering if they left town for a funeral, I can pop onto social media and see lovely photos from their expensive vacation in Cancun, the designer bikini, the obvious tummy tuck (or is that a boob job?), and the size of the new anniversary band. 

So there's that...and then there's people who don't want what other people have, but they feel what other people feel. You all know them (or maybe you are one of them) as Empaths. Someone experiences the death of a loved one and the heart of the Empath goes through all the pain and heartache of the loss. Some Empaths even feel the pain of strangers. Social media can be a weapon of self-destruction for the Empath in much the same way it is for the discontented person trying to keep up with the Jones's. An easy solution may be to avoid social media, but that's hardly realistic. It's 2017 after all.

Leaving social media means leaving the good and the bad (or as my Daddy would say "throwing the baby out with the bath water"). I've found the best solution, and that's to approach social media and life with gentility. Every person we meet is fighting a battle. It's hard to believe when that someone is carrying a hand bag that cost more than your mortgage. It's hard to believe when that someone is always smiling. It's hard to believe when that someone looks so healthy. Not every person fighting a battle wears their scars on the outside and this message of gentility and grace bears repeating, so as we experience the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, please remember this:

Be gentle with yourself.

Be gentle with others.

This may be someone’s last day with someone they love.

This may be someone’s first day alone.

This may be someone’s last sunset.

This may be someone’s first sunrise.

Treat yourself and others with grace

and be gentle with your words and expectations

while being generous with your love and hugs.

Love,

Crystal

Crystal is a council secretary and musician at her church, birth mother, babywearing cloth diapering mama (aka crunchy mama), business owner, active journaler, writer and blogger, Blog Tour Manager with WOW! Women on Writing, Publicist with Dream of Things Publishing, Press Corp teammate for the DairyGirl Network, Unicorn Mom Ambassador, as well as a dairy farmer. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, five young children (Carmen 10, Andre 9, Breccan 4, Delphine 2, and baby Eudora, two dogs, four little piggies, a handful of cats and kittens, and over 230 Holsteins.

You can find Crystal riding unicorns, taking the ordinary and giving it a little extra (making it extraordinary), blogging and reviewing books, baby carriers, cloth diapers, and all sorts of other stuff here, and at her personal blog - Crystal is dedicated to turning life's lemons into lemonade!

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