You are.

"We have to learn to be our own best friends, because we fall too fast and too easily into the trap of being our own worst enemies." - Roderick Thorp

Do not take yourself for granted.

Your alarm goes off, you roll over...take a look at the clock, maybe hit snooze a few times. Roll over a few more times, stretch and squint your eyes and start to wake yourself up and out of bed. In that split second between leaving your bed and starting this bright and shiny new day, you are faced with a decision: who are you going to be today? We all may think that who we are each day depends on the circumstances and situations we are faced with, the people we interact with, the daily communications we have shape our days - part of it is true, but mostly, how your day is going to be is up to you.

No matter what happens to you, good or bad, it's all how you handle it. Each thing that flies at you, something that happens and comes out of left field, the thing that blindsides you at 2pm on some idle wednesday...those are the moments we have to make a quick judgement on: how are you going to react, how are you going accept and handle this? How can you take the good out of this situation and create a positive, constructive reaction?

During that split second that you wake up and get out of bed, the most important relationship you are going to have that day is going to be with yourself. I think too often we take for granted how we are feeling. By that ...I mean how YOU are feeling. What's up? How's your morning? How was your sleep? What are you dreading? Waiting for? Anticipating? We have all these thoughts that swirl around in our heads. They, for the most part, control our reactions, our communications, our attitudes. If we don't like the person we are, things are going to get lonely, and fast.

"If people put you down enough you start to believe it. The bad stuff is easier to believe...you ever notice that?" - Pretty Woman

Too often we put ourselves down, tell ourselves we can't, we're not good enough, we aren't capable of this or that. Stop, stop right there...you CAN and you ARE good enough. We all have that little voice in our head that puts us down time after time, but there is also that little voice of confidence. It might be so quiet and so passive that we barely can hear it...but it's there. So listen and listen good. Believe in yourself and like yourself. If you find you have too many things that bother you, change them. If you can't, think about a few good things about yourself.

Now stop...tell yourself 5 good things about yourself, 2 things you are good at...and 1 thing you are going to work out. It's all about self improvement and self love. Who we are being is going to send a message out to the world...I want my message to be: HELLO WORLD, I'm here to make a change, I'm going to be happy and passionate and filled with love and I'm going to send that out into the world.

So stop being your own worst critic, that job is far too easy and it seriously gets old. Start thinking about the good things you possess, your great qualities, attributes, anything and everything. Start looking in yourself and you'll find them in others. Love yourself, each and every bit. And in that split second you have to make up your mind on who you are going to be that day, decide that you are someone of greatness, who possesses the power to make a difference and help others. Decide that you are not alone, and you will handle everything that you are dealt today, with care.

Do not take yourself for granted.