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There is a cool new app out right now called Tip Yourself (props to my husband for discovering it first).  It’s a finance app, and the theory is that if you tip service professionals for a job well done, why not tip yourself?  You connect the app to your bank account, and every time you deserve a “kudos” you can send a money “tip” into your savings account.

Did you run 5 miles today?  TIp yourself.  Did you have a work “win”?  Tip yourself.  Did you have a parenting win?  Tip yourself!  You send $1 or $5 or $10 to yourself and before you know it, you’re saving a little extra money here and there.

Of course, my husband looks at this in terms of saving and finance, because that’s his job.  But I look at it in terms of self-care, because that’s my area!  It’s so important – but so hard  to remember –  to celebrate and acknowledge the little and big “wins” we have.  Too often I just push myself to the max, to do more, to be more — because the voice in my head is more self-critical than self-congratulatory.  (I’ve said before that if my real-life friends talked to me the way my inner voice often speaks, I wouldn’t be friends with myself.  She can be really mean and discouraging.)

So I’m practicing for one week and taking the Tip Yourself concept a step further.  I’m taking time to recognize how much I get done in a day; the little wins I need to give myself credit for; and the ways I’m just doing the best I can.  IT IS OK.  Instead of sending myself a dollar when I need it, I’m just taking time to “tip myself” mentally:

  • For getting Catie to school at 6:30 am with a fully packed lunch and drinks for her field trip. I was prepared! 
  • For running 4 miles even though it was turtle pace (the voice in my head would usually focus on the turtle pace… but I’m tipping myself by focusing on the 4 miles I got in!)
  • For treating my friend to lunch…even though I left her birthday card and gift at home on the counter.
  • For apologizing when I was really hard on my husband… instead of beating myself up for being hard on him in the first place. 

Moms, wives, daughters, friends:  you’re doing a good job. You’re enough.  Focus on the positive.  Tip Yourself!!

(The photo is from a recent coffee with friends. There is no better self-care for me than hot coffee, Jamie’s delicious oatmeal cookie pies held together with pumpkin buttercream, and this warm and cozy setting at my friend’s farm. I just had to share the pic.)