Whenever I feel like my life does not measure up (whatever that means),

or that I need to somehow "do more" (whatever that means),

I find myself leaning into this little poem,

and feeling better:

"And did you get what

you wanted from this life, even so?

I did.

And what did you want?

To call myself beloved, to feel myself

beloved on the earth."

Raymond Carver

I ask these 2 questions and then I think of just one or two people who love me.

I think of how much my dog loves me.

I think about how much the One who created me loves me.

And I say to myself,

There now … don't you feel better?