Burn Your Crocs

This isn’t about low self esteem.

It’s possible to feel fine about who you are and still not really see yourself. Not because you dislike yourself, but because your attention is constantly somewhere else.
When life gets busy, attention turns practical. You focus on what needs to get done. Work, kids, responsibilities, decisions. You’re just trying to keep things moving. Life becomes about functioning. Over time, that kind of focus can make you lose touch with yourself.

Not in a dramatic way.

Nothing feels wrong. You’re just so immersed in life that you’re not really checking in
anymore.

Why Compliments Don’t Always Land

When someone compliments you in this mode, it doesn’t feel false. It just doesn’t fully
register. Inside, you’re experiencing effort, planning, and fatigue. Outside, people are seeing your presence, your look, your energy. Those two perspectives don’t line up, so the compliment feels like information instead of something you feel in your body.

What “Stop and Smell the Roses” Actually Means

People always say “stop and smell the roses,” and it sounds like they’re telling you to slow
your whole life down. That’s not really it. It’s not about quitting your job or stepping away from responsibility. It’s about letting moments register while life is still happening.
You don’t have to stop moving. You just have to stop internally for a second.

Acknowledging Yourself Along the Way

Part of stopping internally is acknowledging yourself.
Not in a dramatic or performative way. Just small moments of recognition.
Noticing where your beauty lands right now.

Noticing how you look in this season of your life.
Not comparing it to who you used to be or who you think you should become.
Beauty changes as life changes. It lands differently when you are surviving, building, stable, or struggling. Acknowledging yourself means allowing this version to count
too. It also means appreciating your current state, even if it is not idealized. Even if you are tired. Even if you are busy. Even if you are still figuring things out.

You are allowed to notice yourself as you are, not as a finished product.

Acknowledging yourself is not about judging or admiring. It is about letting the moment
register.

See yourself today.
See how you carry yourself now.
See that you exist beyond what needs to be done.

Why This Is Hard When You’re Busy

When you’re focused on keeping life running, your mind stays one step ahead. What’s next. What needs handling. What can’t fall apart.
Nothing feels bad, but the present moment becomes easy to miss.
That’s how people later say they don’t remember whole phases of their life. Not because
they weren’t there, but because they were in motion the entire time.

Those Random Moments Where It Clicks

The moments where you actually see yourself usually come out of nowhere.
A mirror you weren’t expecting in the grocery store. A candid picture someone else took. A second where nothing needs managing. For a brief moment, awareness comes back. You see yourself clearly. Then life continues.

Living Without Disappearing

Life needs focus. That’s how things get done.
But focus without awareness turns into living on autopilot.
Awareness doesn’t mean dropping responsibility. It just means staying connected while
you’re handling it. You don’t need to pause your life to feel it. You just need to notice it while it’s happening. That’s really what stopping to “smell the roses” means.

Not stopping your life.
Not slowing everything down.
Not disappearing inside it.
But taking small moments to acknowledge yourself, where your beauty lands, and who you are right now, before life moves on again.

That’s the difference between managing a life and actually living one.