For the past 5 days I’ve been on vacation in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico with my boyfriend and his family. We’re staying at a beautiful all-inclusive resort on the beach and the weather has been picture perfect since we got here. I’ve been looking forward to this trip for months and my mental list of things to do while we were here included:

• Multiple daily naps
• Drinking lots of frozen margaritas and eating great food
• Reading (I’ve already finished two books so far)
• Spending quality time with my boyfriend and his family
• Getting a massage

Every day there’s been a masseuse who has come by the pool offering free 5 minute massages. On the first day I signed up for one and it was AMAZING. After asking how much a full one cost I was disappointed when he said $164. My first thought was – damn, that’s a lot of money. I kept thinking about what else I could do with that money, how I could get a cheaper one at home, and how I hadn’t even used the gift certificate for a massage that I got last Christmas.

After my free massage on the 4th day the salesman (yeah, I know he was just trying to make a commission) said 4 words that stopped me in my tracks: 

[Tweet “”You are worth it” “]

Why in the world would I spend thousands of dollars to leave the country to then get cheap when it comes to something I really wanted to do? I decided right then and there to say yes to myself. I’ve been challenging myself lately to have an abundance mindset versus one of scarcity. An abundance mindset reminds me that there is always more than enough to go around. When thinking from a place of scarcity there’s never enough and always a bill to pay. 

[Tweet “I finally got that $164 massage and it was EVERYTHING. “]

When I woke up from my massage/nap (checking off two things on my to do list made it even sweeter) I thought about all the other ways I’ve been unconsciously depriving myself:

• Only buying things on sale
• Looking for flights to South Africa via random cities to save a few bucks rather than flying direct from Detroit and saving myself time
• Giving myself mani/pedis instead of actually going to the nail salon

It’s totally fine to cut corners some of the time but I realized I do this waaaay too often. As the Executive Director of a non-profit by day I’m definitely not rich but I work too damn hard to not say yes to myself occasionally.

Now I want to hear from you:

[Tweet “When’s the last time you said yes to yourself?”]

[Tweet “How is a scarcity mindset showing up in your life?”]

Rebecca

P.S. I am so excited about the launch of my new podcast, Changing the Face of Power on August 15th! It’s the first and only podcast in the country dedicated to informing, inspiring, and supporting black women to run for elected office. Be sure to sign up here to be the first to know when it launches!