Friday Thoughts - Invest In Yourself

Today's post is likely going to be a bit all-over-the-place, so bear with me. We're coming to the end of what will be my first year working for myself, for this blog. While the lessons have been endless, and I'm still learning trial-by-error every single day, there's been one thing that's stood out in my mind as the greatest lesson of all, and the thing that I would tell anyone who has a dream that they're trying to turn into a reality:

Invest in yourself.

Honestly, my biggest takeaway from this whole year has been how important it is to invest in yourself. And not just financially, although that does help too. Investing in myself this year means that I've been devoting more time, attention and focus on myself. Investing in the relationship with myself has improved my mood, attention and confidence - now I'm less likely to let someone take advantage of me because I now have a better understanding of who I am, and what I'm comfortable putting up with.

Investing in myself means that I'm now taking the time to find out who I truly am as a person, and what makes me happy - and it wasn't what I thought before. I'm now realizing that there isn't a quick-fix to happiness for me; nothing you can buy.

Investing in my relationship with myself has made me better with my money. Now that I've placed value on myself, I've honestly felt less of a need to invest in material goods to make me happy. Don't get me wrong, I still love shopping and I'll always love a beautiful handbag; the difference now is that I don't fixate on these things and devote endless amounts of hours thinking about them.

Investing in yourself can be difficult. You can feel selfish. It can be intimidating to publicly declare that you believe in yourself, and you're going after what you want. Investing in myself happened quietly: it happened the minute I decided to start listening to the little voice inside of me who was silently protesting when someone was telling me I couldn't do something. Because I invested in myself that once quiet protest is now a full-fledged riot that won't be silenced.

Anyways all this to say that, for me, good things started to happen once I started investing in myself, believing in myself. I wish I had started doing so sooner, but it's a journey and I'm happy with the path I'm walking on now.

Coat - c/o Evernew, Beret - Amazon, Boots - c/o Geox
Bag - Gucci

What do you guys think? Sorry this post is all over the place, but sometimes I have a thought and I just need to get it out - I love the blog so much for this reason!

I would love to hear your thoughts on investing in yourself. How do you invest in yourself? Let me know.

xo Joëlle