When I was 11, I struggled with my weight and learned quickly cruel fellow kids can be. When I was 16, I learned about maintaining my own apartment and how difficult it was to balance working / cleaning / cooking / bills. When I was 18, I battled the loneliness and depression that came with moving cross country with no family or friends. When I was 24, I struggled to survive through a messy divorce and nasty custody battle while reentering the workforce after a long period of staying home. Now at thirty-something I look back and wonder how in the hell I made it thorough. My struggles now include getting this kid to this school event, studying this subject or encouraging that extra curricular task. It’s remembering to purchase snacks for tee ball games, flag football, school parties on top of planning out a dinner menu that will somewhat keep the peace in the house. It’s remembering, diligently, to apply the eye cream that I splurged on twice a day to keep the crows feet at bay. It’s juggling at work duties, at home duties and still trying to set aside some time to get down on the floor and play monster trucks, legos, read a book with the kids. Still worthy struggles but no where the uphill battles I fought before. Looking back, I was a badass even though I didn’t know it. So today I am going to be a little kinder to myself….I think you should do the same.