{"id":3370,"date":"2014-07-25T12:45:12","date_gmt":"2014-07-25T16:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/?p=3370"},"modified":"2014-07-25T12:45:12","modified_gmt":"2014-07-25T16:45:12","slug":"how-to-not-lose-yourself-or-your-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/home\/how-to-not-lose-yourself-or-your-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Not to Lose Yourself or Your Dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #800080; font-size: 12pt;\">by Gladys Diaz<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/HDSite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Who-Am-I-2_bing.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-3371\" src=\"http:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/HDSite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Who-Am-I-2_bing.jpg\" alt=\"Who-Am-I-2_bing\" width=\"282\" height=\"209\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">The other day, I was watching one of my favorite TV shows with my family and they were featuring a mother in her 40s who was almost 200 pounds overweight. She was beside herself with sadness and self-loathing because she said she had given up her dreams and could not believe how much she had let herself go after having been an athlete and gymnast in her youth.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Her reason for having gotten to this point?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Being a mom.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">She shared how she had gotten pregnant in college and thrown herself into being \u201cthe perfect mom\u201d and pastor\u2019s wife. She described how she had put so much focus on being there for her kids that she\u2019s lost herself and forgotten who she was.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">I\u2019d like to say this is an isolated incident, but it\u2019s not.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>One of the most common fears women share with us is that they are afraid of losing themselves in a relationship.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">I work with women all over the world who are trying to prove that they are Superwoman or Supermom, doing everything, working themselves to the point of exhaustion, and ignoring their own needs so that they can please and impress others.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">And this isn\u2019t an issue that only affects mothers and wives. I also see women who are single and are throwing themselves into and losing themselves in their careers, giving all of themselves, their time and attention to their bosses and companies and leaving very little time or attention for having fun, dating, and just taking care of themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Unfortunately, all of these women have forgotten that the MOST important relationship you will ever have is the one you have with yourself!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #ff00ff;\"><strong><em>If you don\u2019t take the time to care for yourself by making time to relax, laugh, play, nurture your mind, body, and spirit, you literally have nothing left to give \u2013 to yourself or anyone else!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Giving to the point of feeling depleted, mentally and physically exhausted \u2013and many times <em>resentful<\/em>, because you feel you\u2019re giving, giving, and giving without getting very much in return \u2013 not only leaves you unable to have the energy, patience, and enthusiasm to date or create a loving relationship, but also teaches people how to treat you. So it\u2019s unfair to resent the boss who keeps adding things on your plate with no recognition or additional compensation, the PTA President who knows she can call you the night before to do a task that would take anyone else weeks, or your husband who is not helping you around the house or with the kids.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #ff00ff;\"><strong>When <em>you<\/em> don\u2019t take time to make time for yourself, don\u2019t expect others to go out of their way to do that for you, either!<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">It\u2019s essential that you do something for yourself <strong><em>daily<\/em><\/strong>. Whether it\u2019s read a book, talk on the phone with a girlfriend, take that class you\u2019ve been saying you want to take forever, or just <em>sit and do nothing<\/em> (one of my favorites!).<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><strong><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #ff00ff;\">When you make your needs, dreams, and self-care a priority, you are letting yourself \u2013 and the rest of the world know \u2013 that you value yourself, believe in your dreams, and know that there isn\u2019t a need to \u201csacrifice\u201d what you love and makes you happy in order to be a great woman, partner, or mother.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>You\u2019ll also find that when you make <em>yourself<\/em> a priority, all of those people who you love and are trying to make happy will rally around you, be your biggest supporters, and help make sure you have time for yourself and to make your dreams come true!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">As we were watching the show, my older son said, \u201cWow\u2026 She had to give up her dreams so she could take care of her kids? \u201c<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">I responded, \u201cNo, she didn\u2019t <em>have<\/em> to give up her dreams. She <em>chose<\/em> to. We get to create our lives and make our dreams come true. A woman can be a great mother, have a happy relationship, and <em>still<\/em> follow her dreams.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">His response?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cOh, yeah, Mama. Like how you take care of us and you\u2019re also helping your clients and building your dreams for Heart\u2019s Desire!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">My response?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">\u201c<em>Exactly<\/em>!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Comments?\u00a0 Questions?\u00a0 Let us know below!\u00a0 We love hearing from you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Gladys Diaz The other day, I was watching one of my favorite TV shows with my family and they were featuring a mother in her 40s who was almost 200 pounds overweight. She was beside herself with sadness and self-loathing because she said she had given up her dreams and could not believe how [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,15,16,17,19,21,22,23,24,25,1],"tags":[47,50,56,57,59,68,70,79,87,91,92,105],"class_list":["post-3370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-coaching","category-communication-2","category-dating-2","category-forgiveness-2","category-gratitude-2","category-hdi-blog","category-hearts-desire-international","category-heartache","category-infidelity","category-intimacy-2","category-loss-of-a-spouse","category-love-2","category-marriage","category-parenting-2","category-relationship","category-relationship-advice","category-romance","category-self-love-2","category-sex","category-uncategorized","tag-dating","tag-empowerment","tag-happiness","tag-hearts-desire-international","tag-hope","tag-love","tag-marriage-2","tag-parenting","tag-relationship-advice-2","tag-self-care","tag-self-love","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3370\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}