Day 39: It takes some shaking

It's late in the evening but it's the penultimate day of Lent so I thought I'd just write a very brief post. While I'll be carrying on with this blog next week - and until I'm ready to morph it into something else - tomorrow is officially the last day of the 40-day self-acceptance experiment. So how has it gone? Well, I'll say a little bit more about that tomorrow (assuming I have time to post!) but for today, I just wanted to say thank you to Nick of Wearehuman who commented on my last post, gently pointing out that perhaps the self-critical voice was still present at times and could be heard through my writing. And of course he's right. I know on occasion I've hit the publish button on a blog post but been left wondering just how self-accepting I had actually been in what I'd written. So my conclusion is that it's probably going to take more than 40 days to reverse decades of self-criticism and negative thinking. Habits can be difficult to break. I'm proud, however, that I've made a good start over the past 40 days and have chipped away at some of the thought patterns and behaviours that don't serve me. And it's progress not perfection that counts!

So tomorrow I'm going to the Women on Fire event in London and it sounds like it'll be very timely. The purpose of Women on Fire, according to its website, is "to encourage women to live the power of gentleness, to bring tenderness to all walks of life, personal and professional, but most especially to themselves". That sounds right up my street and very much in line with the sentiment of this blog. While it's going to be hard for me to be indoors all day tomorrow if it's glorious sunshine outside (I might have to escape to the sun now and then), I'm looking forward to listening to and connecting with some inspirational women. Maybe I'll see some of you there!