We woke up today, and we were breathing. That in itself was your chance to cease the day. If we wake up tomorrow and we're breathing, that's still brilliant. We fail to appreciate the most basic things about ourselves, so where could we even begin to appreciate all of the hard work we manually put in?

Our body does so much for us; our lungs breathe for us, our heart beats for us, our brain thinks for us, our senses are signaling our intuition, and we never ask our body parts to do this, but they do anyways because they're "supposed to." Well, we're supposed to do all the things we take on in a day, because we are just "supposed to."

Sometimes in our day to day it's easy to feel replaceable and unneeded. At work, anyone could have our jobs. In this world nowadays, there is someone always waiting next in line or competing for what we want or have. We have tendencies (we, as in myself included) to feel like what we're presently doing is "too easy," and we disregard the qualifications it takes to be where we are. Maybe it was a mere application or it was a sincere effort. Either way, we end up where we're supposed to be for a reason. The reason can be a lesson, a calling, or a career. I'm trying to point out we don't appreciate where we are in life usually, and that's why we tend to blame ourselves. We don't have to blame anyone actually. We really have to learn to accept and trust where we are at any point in our lives.

Let's appreciate ourselves for trying. We wake up and go to school, work, community service/volunteering, etc. because there's an area in our life that we are trying to build. We have to learn to appreciate our efforts to feel better about ourselves. As humans we are destined to make mistakes, but how we interpret our mistakes determines our mindset as well as our next course of action. We even tend to find something wrong with our successes, and we think how we could have done better. Here's a hint: take the win.

We tend to get down on ourselves for not learning fast enough, or thinking about how we could've been faster, more efficient. Why don't we let it go? We are going to make mistakes, and whether you believe in Adam and Eve or just the way of life, then believe in that! But we were put on this earth to be individuals, and your mistakes contribute to your learning and your successes! Often mistakes can be a portal for discovery. Many ideas are born from bad ideas that were later deemed genius! We are our own worst critics, that is so important to remember. We have idols that are celebrities and athletes, but the only time we acknowledge their failures is when the media does; other than that, we create the halo effect for these people who score touchdowns and throw nice passes. Why don't we do that for ourselves? Why can't we praise ourselves when we're right? Why don't we just take a breath and be happy we tried?

It's easy to acknowledge failure, it sounds silly (to me), but it's true. It's easy to get down on ourselves because "life is hard," but truth is, making the most of life is what you make of your time when you have priorities to acknowledge. Perhaps you get down on yourself because you "hate when other people brag about their accomplishments." It's not about bragging at all, people brag because that's their personality. Think about yourself and how you have the best intentions. Take every win. Be excited about what you've done today, even if it's just the laundry (some people haven't done their laundry in two weeks).

People look at success in different ways. To me, success is every win. I have yet to achieve most of my life goals, but I don't feel "unsuccessful." Everyday is a milestone. I've gotten through bad days, bad weeks and bad times, and I will surely make it through each failure I have yet to make. Teach yourself to take a breath before you get down on yourself. Not everything is worth getting down about, no matter how "important" the task. I have a feeling Michael Jordan wasn't quoted saying these things for no reason:

1. "I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed."

2. "Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it."

3. "I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying."