Baseline

Sorrow is not your baseline, Beloved. 
Your suffering is not a measure of your merit. 
There is a subtle difference, between processing challenges, and wallowing in them.
There is a nearly intangible edge, between the sort of discomfort which offers growth, and the sort which inhibits it.

Many of us have been conditioned, at a subconscious level, to cultivate a relationship with the self which equates to "tough love." Beneath any attempts to maintain social composure...
We speak harshly to ourselves. 
We talk down to ourselves. 
We berate ourselves at the slightest showing of perceived weakness.
We hold ourselves to unreasonable standards.

When no one else can hear, our inner voice says things that we would never say to anyone else.

Kindness, consideration, and compassion for others are impossible if it does not begin within. 
Here's a thought. 
Just for today...
Let's be kind to ourselves, shall we?
-e