Thank You Mom

My mother does not embrace Mother’s Day. If you know her, you know she is quite exceptional, and quite non-traditional. And you know I adore her. I don’t celebrate her today, because that would not be to her liking. But I do celebrate all of the things she has taught me over the years. My most valuable lessons. I have written about these over the years, including here – these lessons are not new, yet like most lessons in life, they are best heard over and over again. And certainly, they are lessons I think of every day

1. You don’t have time. You make time. If it is important, it will make it on your calendar. Don’t use that excuse.
2. On that note – schedule everything. Schedule time with yourself (for quiet, daydreaming thinking), schedule exercise time, schedule friend time. If it makes it on your calendar, it will happen.
3. Red lipstick fixes everything. Find the red lipstick that suits your skin tone, and use it. Often.
4. Have champagne to celebrate the big things, and the small things (translation: if you save the champagne to celebrate the big things, you won’t have enough champagne in your life).
5. Guilt is an emotion invented by men to make women feel bad. Don’t ever feel it.
6. The success of one woman is the success of all women. Always celebrate other women’s successes. Truly, and genuinely.
7. The only path to happiness is to find harmony between your values, your actions, and your thoughts and feelings.
8. The consequence of rule #7 is that you should never do anything just because society expects it – it will lead to conflicts between your values, actions, and thoughts and feelings.
9. Spend time alone, taking care of yourself. You can’t take care of the world if you don’t take care of yourself.
10. Be kind to yourself. First, and always. You can’t be kind to others if you are not kind to yourself.
11. When you feel overwhelmed, cancel two things in the upcoming week. Just do it. Be in control of your schedule, not the other way around.

I love you Mom.

Thank you for being an inspiration, every day. Even if I chose Mother’s Day to tell you.