This week I share with you Tip #3 from Ten Self-Care Tips: Looking for Sane Practices in Times of Insane Demands — Follow through on your commitments. Do you have friends or family who always commit to this or that, but often do not follow through? How does that make you feel? Do you trust them? If they always fail to keep commitments, that’s easy. You don’t pay them any mind. It’s harder when they’re hit and miss. You’re never sure if they’ll do what they say; you’re left feeling uneasy.

It’s important to keep commitments, . . . especially those you make to yourself. Some people think it’s okay to not follow through if it doesn’t involve anyone else. Not true. In the evening, do you decide that you’re going to get up early in the morning and take a walk? Then in the morning you lay in bed, saying, “I’m tired. It doesn’t matter, I’ll walk tomorrow.” Do you tell yourself, “I’m not going to drink sugary drinks anymore,” then two days later you give in and gulp one down, thinking “It’s okay, I have cut down on them. That’s good enough.” I suggest to you that it’s not the not walking or the drinking sodas that do you harm as much as it is not following through on your word – what you committed to yourself! You self-sabotage. You develop a habit of not paying attention to yourself – your word means nothing.

On a conscious level that seems harmless. But subconsciously, you undermine your integrity. That weighs on your soul. That steals your peace, takes away a sliver of your energy, and makes it harder to hold yourself true to your word.