Happy New Year of Unconditional Self-Love

Tap the play button to listen to today’s podcast. Tap & hold first if necessary, then tap play.
FYI I cuss so wait ’til the kids and elders aren’t around. Press play to listen to today’s podcast. Blessings!

I’ve seen a lot of posts about if all you’ve managed to do this year is get through it, you’ve done well. And honestly I agree.

This year was really tough on a lot of us. It was very defining for a lot of us. A lot of relationships ended this year over decisions made last year.

A lot of loss, a lot of too much, a lot of it hurts to be here. And I must say that if this year was really hard for you, I’m proud of you for still being here.

Honestly, everybody did not make that choice. So I’m proud of you, and you know who you are, if that felt optional to you this year. I know I had my days.

One thing that saved me this year was realizing that I can only give so much energy to what’s outside my control. I knew better than to constantly listen to and watch the news. Because I know it’s bad for my mental health and my emotional well-being. I released some friendships, people who meant a whole lot to me. But I had to let them go because their presence in my life was bringing me more pain than peace. I let that be okay.

As we enter this new year, let’s not do it like we’ve done it in the past. Let’s not put a whole lot of pressure on ourselves to be, to do, to have, and not put any intention toward loving ourselves unconditionally.

We can strive for our dreams. We can put in the work. We can set lofty goals. But can we love ourselves in the process? Can we commit to loving ourselves unconditionally? Can we decide that whether we are at step one or step 100 that we are worthy of our own love, our own support, our own respect?

Can we be kind to ourselves in the new year? Can we love ourselves deeper in the new year? Can we love ourselves the way we give love to everybody else?

That’s what I’m resolving to do. And I hope you will too.

Have a Happy New Year filled with unconditional love for yourself.

Blessings,

Marlene Dillon Empowerment Specialist

ADHD: On Unconditional Self-Love

Sometimes the challenges of being neurodivergent can make beautiful intentions become frustrating moments. I have learned this year to be kind to myself, to have patience with myself, and to just accept the reality that I am living with a processing disorder.

Tap the play button to listen to today’s podcast. Tap & hold first if necessary, then tap play.
FYI I cuss so wait ’til the kids and elders aren’t around. Press play to listen to today’s podcast. Blessings!

This year has been about self-acceptance on another level. It’s less of me eye rolling myself and being frustrated. It’s more of me loving myself, accepting myself, and just realizing sometimes things take me a little longer. It’s also about not needing as much outside approval.

I’m learning to celebrate myself and extend grace to myself. Decorating my tree this year was for ME, and for the excitement that it will give me. This was a huge shift.

In the past, I would have been really frustrated that I didn’t get it done in time for Christmas. I would have taken it down without finishing it and felt like a failure.

I’m so grateful my beautiful daughter encouraged me to complete it. She was so supportive and kind. So I stayed up late and worked on my tree until I loved it. I also made the star on top, which was a project in itself. It took a lot of effort and focus but I got it done.

I’m really proud of myself, and I’m proud of my tree, and I’m proud of the growth I’ve experienced this year and for learning to accept myself as I am. I’m learning to really truly love myself unconditionally. And that’s what this post is about.

This post is not so much about you looking at my tree. It’s meant to be encouragement to the people like me who struggle with challenges that make keeping up with what everyone else is doing very difficult. It’s about accepting yourself and loving yourself unconditionally and learning how to do that in little and big ways.

Completing this tree meant so much to me and I’m so glad that I didn’t give up on myself and got it done on MY time.

Wishing you a beautiful holiday season and increased self love and self acceptance. You deserve it.

Blessings!

Marlene Dillon Empowerment Specialist

Tap here to hear more of myself acceptance journey. 💖

Check out my tree and star I created. 💖

Just Be… In the Moment

Occasionally, I get on here and share the words from my morning journaling. I don’t make this a regular practice (yet), AND when it happens and feels relevant I share it. The following is an excerpt from an exercise I began doing (again) recently, called “morning pages.” It’s just free thought written down (or recorded)… letting the words just flow out of your subconscious mind… well, mine. So see if it resonates with you and if you’re interested in doing mornings pages, I’ll try to remember to put a link where you can find out more about it. I didn’t create it. I learned it from a woman named Julia Cameron.

Oh, and I’m not gonna remove the typos, fix the grammar, etc. It’s important when you do stream of consciousness writing to not pause and edit. Just let it flow. Let it be a continuous stream without going back to say it better as if it’s for an audience. It’s just you and you. Got it? Okay, enjoy… or not. lol But if you don’t enjoy it, don’t tell me. Just scroll my blog page and find something else you’ll enjoy. lbvs

Blessings

Marlene Dillon Empowerment Specialist

“I can let the present be what it is and not need it to be more than it is. I can let the moments happen and not need to define them. “What does that mean?” If this happens, then…. does that happ…? Oh, God is it all ruined? I don’t have time for that. I want to enjoy my life more. To let the moments unfold as they are. To not make it my job to keep the unpleasant moments from happening. To not feel responsible to fix every low emotion moment into a happy moment. To let people be To let me be to let   LIFE  be. 

I don’t need to fix it. I don’t need to repair it. I don’t need to rewire it. I don’t need to be responsible for holding the world and the universe spinning on it’s axis. I don’t need to be smart and flawless and kind all the time. I don’t need to protect myself from sadness and low moments. I get to just live. Just be in the moment. Just have a real moment a real experience and I can share it or not. I don’t need to make my life about them, while I can enjoy sharing my life with them. I can live naturally and then decide to tell it. I don’t need to live purposefully so I have something to share. I get to live my own life for me and do what works for me and show up in life as me and not make it a performance because I’m Marlene Dillon Empowerment Specialist and need more empowering content for the Gram. I get to just live and occasionally grab my camera to share it. I get to just live and occasionally grab my recorder to share it. But I don’t need to manufacture moments as a content creator to be a more meaningful, purposeful, individual. I get to live my real life… my uncurated life… and allow myself to be fully present in my moments… good or bad… and let that be enough.”

—Marlene Dillon Empowerment Specialist

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Old Story New Perspective

It’s crazy when you’ve had time to heal that the same old story doesn’t affect you the same way. Lately I’ve been… There’s a song that I used to hear in church called “Count Your Blessings.” And that’s what I’ve been doing with myself lately.

Meme: Marlene Dillon Empowerment Specialist in script across the top. Share & Let's Live! podcast logo watermark in top right corner. Image of a curly haired woman standing in a wheat field blindfolded. Text states: “It’s easy to see ourselves through the lens of ‘not enough.’ Growth is seeing our good, how we support others, what we do well, and what we love about ourselves.” @marlenedillonempowerment mdillondesigns.com/blog
Tap the play button to listen to today’s podcast. Tap & hold first if necessary, then tap play.
FYI I cuss so wait ’til the kids and elders aren’t around. Press play to listen to today’s podcast. Blessings!

I used to just look at what I didn’t have, what I couldn’t do, how hard it was for me to do things. I would look at how different I am from other people and how successful they are by comparison to me. I would look at myself through the lens of those who always found a fault with me.

More recently I’ve started noticing what’s good about me, what I do well, how I support those I care about, what I can love about myself.

And that shift supported me today when an old story came up. It was one of those stories that made me feel bad when I would tell it, that will be embarrassing to share, that made me feel less than. But this time as I told the story I didn’t give in to those feelings.

As I retold the story, I began to recognize the true version of what happened. I was able to see all the characters in the story in a new light. I began to see myself in a new way.

I’m so grateful for this experience because I got greater clarity about what really happened in the story, and I came to see my value in a whole new way.

So check out today’s podcast episode where I share a really juicy story that VERY few people know. Press play above.

Blessings!

Marlene Dillon Empowerment Specialist