You're Worth It

Do you ever feel imbalanced, stressed-out, or empty inside? If so, Habit 7 is going to be a huge help, because it’s been specially designed to deal with these problems. At the Bridle Up Hope barn, we teach “Sharpen the Saw.” This means to nurture your horse and nurture yourself: body, heart, mind, and soul.

Why do we call it “Sharpen the Saw”? Well, imagine that you’re going for a walk in the forest when you come upon a guy furiously sawing down a tree.

“What’re you doing?” you ask.

I’m sawing down a tree,” comes the curt reply.

“How long have you been at it?”

“Four hours so far, but I’m really making progress,” he says, sweat dripping from his chin.

Your saw looks pretty dull,” you say. “Why don’t you take a break and sharpen it?”

“I can’t, you dummy. I’m too busy sawing.”

We all know who the real dummy is here now, don’t we? If the guy were to take a fifteen-minute break to sharpen the saw, he’d probably finish three times faster.

Have you ever been too busy driving to take time to get gas? Have you ever been too busy giving to take time to renew yourself?

Habit 7 is all about keeping your personal-self sharp so that you can better deal with life. It’s “me time.” It means regularly renewing and strengthening the four key dimensions of your life—your body, your mind, your heart, and your soul. In fact, it’s hard to ever really serve someone else when you don’t first serve yourself.

As you learned in the story of hope above, spending time on yourself is time well spent, because you’re worth it.