December 16th - Gold Stars

Sarah tells us a terribly sad story about one of her friends today.

It literally made me cry.

Start Quote

Her mother maintained star charts for each of her eight children.

Every Sunday night after dinner, the past week's reckoning would occur in the dining room as the gridded charts revealed who had excelled at 

homework, chores, personal hygiene, and behavior 

- and who hadn't.

The striving for gold stars was supposed to be a motivational game.

However, accumulating gold stars under duress wasn't fun for [her],

despite the fact that she excelled at everything and was a model "good girl." 

For her, the pressure of constant evaluation was excruciating. 

Opening the cardboard box was a psychological and emotional 

stretching on the rack of self-respect.

But gold-star days are very different 

when we give them to ourselves.

When you give yourself a gold star...

the star twinkles, winks, and whispers "Good for you, girl!"...

The extraordinary days don't need gold stars.

But ordinary days sure can be brighter with a shiny, five-pointed pat on the back.

End Quote

I love gold stars.

I think the world needs more glitter and sparkles.

No one else can appreciate you and all that you do, well, they can,

but it's not the same.

It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, 

do you think you deserve a gold star?

If you are alive, and you are trying to be better every day,

then you are doing awesome.

And you deserve to give yourself a gold star.

Or two...or three...heck, a whole bunch.

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Gratitude Journal

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1) Sleep. Robbie basically watched the kids all day and let me sleep. I was out.

2) Family. I love when cousins and grandparents come over. We watched a movie, decorated the tree, ate grilled cheese, and they helped me clean the kids rooms. They are more awesome than anything.

3) I did not burn down the house when we broiled 9 grilled cheeses on a cookie pan.

4) We've been re watching The Office for I don't know how many times while I finished my blogs, and tonight we're finishing it up! It's amazing.

5) Treasures from thrift stores that my mother-in-law finds. She found another Simple Abundance book. So awesome.