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5 Ways To Invest In Yourself & Why You Are Worth It

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Invest in yourself.

These were the only words written on a page of notes my son wrote at a youth event.

I focused on these lone words and paid attention because I’ve been pondering this exact phrase recently.

I think the tendency for many of us is to focus on investing solely in our families or others at the expense of ourselves. The money we spend on youth sports, the time we give sitting at recitals and tryouts, the hours we spend taxiing our kids to their friend’s house, their job, or next activity. The time we give serving in all areas we are needed. The hours we spend cleaning or organizing to invest in a warm, comfortable environment. The time we spend meal planning, preparing meals. The hours we spend at a teen’s bedside talking that we’d plan to spend asleep. All of these daily duties play a role in investing in the lives of the ones we love most.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Galatians 6:9

May we not grow weary. May we not lose focus and hope. May we also see the value in the investment of ourselves. Because others deserve the best version of us we have to offer.

Investing in ourselves isn’t selfish. It’s life-giving to everyone we encounter.

The temptation in this culture is to wear the busy badge and play the martyr mom or wonder woman role. The one where we give all we have and run ourselves into the ground as a sacrificial offering. While this may look noble for 5 minutes, the long-term effects aren’t so noble.

How is there time to invest in ourselves when life is so demanding? How can we squeeze in one more thing?

This is where I’ve been camping out recently. For me, I’ve found it means letting go of a few things. Some of those “things” are actually expectations. I may simply not be able to do all the things I want to the level I want. I’m learning to be okay with less in order that I have the energy for the things that matter most.

Last year I shared about my journey through a stomach ulcer. This was a major wake up call to me. What I learned is that my physical body will break down if I don’t care for my total body – physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional.

I invest in taking care of my car because it’s paid for, and I want it to last for as many years as I can get out of it. I invest in caring for my house because I want it to offer to our family and others the best it can. I take care of my family because I love them and want to see them flourish in life. Why would I not think investing in my own well-being is as important as investing in anything else I invest in?

Our Heavenly Father’s heart is that we love ourselves, children of the King, seeing our worth in Him as so valuable that we invest in caring for ourselves because we know how loved we are. Caring for ourselves is critical if we desire to care for others.

Before I share 5 ways to invest in yourself, I may need to share with you why you are worth the investment of both time and money.

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

1 Peter 2:9

You are worth the investment because you are:

  • a child of the King
  • created in the image of God
  • loved enough that He sent His Son to die for you.
  • His prized possession. A holy treasure.
  • special.

How do you handle the things in your life you deem as special and valuable? Probably with extreme care. You might even spend money on taking care of them so they last.

So the why is simply because He says you are worth it! And then – so you can be poured out for the greater work of the Kingdom.

5 Ways to invest in yourself

  1. Pay money for something you believe will be good for you.

  2. Do something that is totally fun and not one bit productive.

  3. Change one habit today that will benefit your physical health. Commit to 30 days.

  4. Invest in time with people with no agenda other than community and companionship.

  5. Add one spiritual discipline.

Here’s the breakdown:

1- Pay money for something that you believe will be good for you. Pay actual real dollars. Why? Because it holds value and when we pay our hard earned dollars for something, we are more likely to treat it seriously.

What could you pay money for? Well, is there a talent you want to develop? A craft? A hobby? Something for your profession?

I paid actual real money investing in myself over the last few months. I’m taking an online course to learn all things Pinterest in order to learn how to use it effectively in sharing my writing and my shop. I paid actual real money to join a writer’s membership site because I want to grow in the areas of writing, marketing, and entrepreneurship I feel stuck in.

Typically, I wouldn’t spend the money on myself in these areas. But I began feeling God’s leading in these areas and realized how quick I am to pay for my children to get better in a sport or hobby or anything they love.

2- Do something that is totally fun and not one bit productive. Seems hardly an investment but it actually is. Doing something simply because you enjoy it helps you to experience rest and joy in doing what you love. We often neglect ourselves from having fun because we take ourselves too seriously.

One way I’ve been doing this is by reading fiction. Reading is something I love and is totally fun to me, yet it seems to be the thing I’ll never take time for. However, recently I’ve heard the boys remind me to take some time to read. They see I am a better mom when I’ve taken even a brief time out from chasing life to simply sit and enjoy it.

This is an investment in a time out of sorts for ourselves. Time out from the seriousness of life in order that we find the fun and lovely again. Investing in our souls.

3- Change one habit today that will benefit your physical health. Commit to 30 days.

  • Replace one can of soda with a glass of water
  • If you don’t exercise, add walking 3 mornings a week
  • Eliminate desserts and sweets
  • Add in an extra vegetable everyday.

The options here are limitless. No matter where we are on this journey, we can all make one small adjustment today that will invest in our physical bodies. Often this requires dollars spent for me. When I invest in healthy supplements or healthier food options or a gym membership, I feel held accountable to stewarding that investment well.

4- Invest in time with people with no agenda other than community and companionship. Simply be with a friend.

  • Invite one friend or several friends over for coffee.
  • Call a friend on the phone and have a catch up conversation.
  • Invite a friend to walk with you.

I often hear people say they don’t have time for friends or to simply go to coffee with another person. In other cultures, investing in relationships is priority over productivity.

We were created by a relational God to be in relationships with others. We were not created to be productivity machines who could create the perfect life and keep up with all the increasing demands. Yet, that is the temptation in today’s culture.

Open your home, invite someone in, invite someone out. Just go be with someone. Invest time (and potentially dollars) in building deep, meaningful relationships.

5- Add one spiritual discipline. Commit for 30 days.

  • Do you struggle to pray regularly? Set an alarm. Add in even just one minute. Starting starts somewhere. Don’t focus on where you start. Just start. It’ll change your life and become 2nd nature.
  • Do you read your Bible daily? Wake up 10 minutes early. Read for 5 minutes.
  • Scripture memory. Write a verse on a card. Keep it nearby and read it a few times a day. Tape it to the mirror or the car dash.
  • Never fasted? Choose one meal once a week to fast from.

Each of these 5 things, when added in, will invest in our total lives for the better of everyone we intersect our lives with. Investing in ourselves is worth it.

We are valuable to our Father. He knows every hair on our head. He cares deeply and tenderly for us. To invest in caring for ourselves is simply aligning with the way our Father thinks of us. We are a holy treasure. Therefore, we should handle with the best care.

When we begin to care for ourselves by investing well, we offer the best of us to the world. One step at a time we impact the world for good.

If you find yourself wanting to invest in your spiritual growth, I have something I think can help you along that path. In the writing and recording of Illuminate, I can’t tell you how much God has grown me. Spending 14 days focusing on who He is completely changed how I view every situation I find myself in.

Now when fear speaks too loudly, I’ve practiced for 14 days turning my heart and mind back to who He is. Fear shrinks. When anxiety threatens to take me down, I’ve practiced for 14 days laying down my worries and remembering the magnitude of God.

Illuminate is a 14 day audio devotion, with transcripts, with the goal of creating in you the spiritual discipline of renewing your mind. It’s practicing the art of remembrance of who God is by the light of His Word, no matter what storms of life may blow our way.

It’s gentle and kind to your soul. It’s 10 minutes or less a day. It’s yours forever. At the end of 14 days, you may find you are ready to start again with another 14 days. It’s $10 that you are more than worth. It’s one small way you can invest in yourself spiritually.

audio devotional

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Do You Want God’s Best This Year?

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I love a fresh slate. God’s Word tells us He is always creating something new in us. Therefore, we don’t really need a new year to know that each day is an opportunity to start afresh. But there is something about turning the calendar over to a brand new start that inspires us.

Many of us start a new year wanting to rid our lives of some choice, habit, pattern, or lifestyle that we know is for our harm not our good. The problem is that ridding our lives of bad habits isn’t easy. Sometimes we want a bad habit or pattern gone so we try hard initially. The results don’t come immediately so we become discouraged. We don’t recognize the results we hoped for, and we doubt it’s worth the fight and effort. Eventually, we quit trying. It’s easier to stay in patterns that are familiar. Even the ones we know deep down are not for our good.

To desire to stay in a habit or pattern that is comfortable is to allow fear to grow bolder. Fear wears many masks. One such mask is the mask of comfortable. Fear of change, the fear of leaving the known which has become so familiar for the unknown. Often we fail at changing a bad habit, lifestyle choice, or pattern because we fear the uncomfortable process that change will usher in. We fear the pain that is inevitable with the gain. We fear the unknown of the process as that pattern or choice is purged or refined out of us. We choose to stay in the known, the comfortable, because fear has convinced us it is the safer place.

Fear is from satan, never from God. When fear speaks, it is never God.

About 11 years ago, I was addicted to Coke. It is all I drank. Never more than mere sips of water through the day. My body ran on less than its best, but I knew no different. Eventually I reached the point of realizing a change must happen.

I reached for a friend because I knew with a habit like this, I couldn’t do it alone. I needed a cheerleader, a coach, an encourager, and mostly….someone to hold me accountable to do the hard work. My friend gave me a workable plan when I expressed how impossible this task seemed for me.

“When you wake up in the morning, chug 8 ounces of water. Don’t think about it, don’t sip on it. Just do it, and do it fast. Then at 10:00 am, chug another 8 oz glass of water. At noon, chug another 8 oz. You are not allowed to have a Coke until you have chugged a minimum of three 8 oz glasses of water, and you can’t have a coke before noon.”

It was a plan laid out for me. One that broke down an enormous lifestyle change into sip sizes. It took the impossible and sectioned out the small steps I would take. Little by little. Taking only one day at a time. I was not to look past the day I was in. Each day was a fresh start. Each day held victory if I did the hard work of taking the steps necessary for that day only.

Over the next 2 weeks, my cravings for Coke drastically decreased. In fact, I found that when lunch arrived, I felt so good from my water intake that I didn’t desire Coke. I knew that Coke would spike my blood sugar. I knew that I would spend the afternoon craving more sugar. I felt great in the morning, but when I turned to Coke, I began to feel bad again. However, I had become so accustomed to living on less than best that I had no idea how bad I actually felt. In fact, my “bad” actually felt normal. Until my body was cleansed, I didn’t know how incredible I could actually feel. How energized and alive.

Over the next several months, which turned into years, my Coke habit changed from 3-4 Cokes a day, to one a day, to one a week, to one a month. Until 2 years ago something happened I never would have believed.

Two years ago, I began a 40 day journey on The Daniel Plan. Fast forward 6 months, and one day it hit me, I hadn’t even tasted a sip of soda in 6 months. I couldn’t believe it. I wasn’t intentionally trying to never have a soda again, but I felt so great that I simply stopped desiring it and began actually craving food and drinks that my body was designed to live on. Once I realized how long I’d gone, I realized I never wanted to go back to sodas. It’s now been over two years since I’ve had a soda. I’ve tried to take a sip and gagged. It tastes like syrup through a straw to me now.

My kids can’t believe it because they saw how much I loved my Coke.

I’ve learned that I will crave what I feed myself. Physically, emotionally, spiritually, or mentally. If I feed my body sugar, I crave more sugar. When my body was rid of sugar and taking in pure water, it craved pure water. In greater quantities. When I feed myself escapes through social media, this is what I crave. When I rid myself of my electronic addiction, and spend more time with God or family, this is what I begin to crave. If I feed myself pleasures, I crave greater pleasures. If I feed myself shopping excursions, I crave more new things. Our cravings grow from the appetites we feed.

Sometimes we listen to our cravings. We lean on these and believe the lie that we can’t live without them. Only when we purge ourselves of the things that are not for our good, will we begin to crave those things that bring us life.

I share this with you to encourage you in whatever that “thing” is in your life that you feel is impossible to change or get rid of. Whatever that “thing” is, God desires His best for you. Any change for good desires will be hard because you have an enemy that desires the worst for you.

This enemy will deceive you. He will tell you lies like you will never rid yourself of this habit. He will tell you change like this is for other people but not for you. He will feed you lies so you can justify your bad habits. He will actually tell you it’s not that bad. He will bring other people to mind so you can compare yourself to them and feel better about your choice.

There is one thing I haven’t mentioned yet. It is the one thing that will make your impossible possible. Prayer. Prayer is the power to change. Prayer is the means by which we can come to God and humble ourselves, submit to His plan and His way. To confess and repent of our idolatry or addiction, which we have nicely called a habit. Prayer is where we come to Him and ask Him to give us the strength and the power to take the hard steps.

In our culture we are prone to leaning into the easy. Today, let’s lean into the hard. Lean into knocking down strongholds. Let’s tear down lies and fear and boldly seek God’s best for our life.

I don’t know what your “thing” is. Quite honestly, we all likely have many “things”. Rather than focus on changing everything at once, pick one thing. Celebrate small steps of victory. Watch God do a mighty work through your faithfulness to follow one small step at a time.

6 Practical Steps To Replacing Bad Habits:

1- Prayer

2-Reach for an accountability partner. Tell people what you are doing. Let them cheer you on.

3-Make a daily plan. Action steps you will follow.

4-Know the big picture, but focus on the steps you will take each day. Look only at the day you are on. Don’t look down the road.

5-Celebrate the small. Celebrate the first victory and let that embolden you.

6- Speak truth. It’s the only way to silence the fears and lies of the enemy. Write Bible verses on notecards and recite through the day.