Today’s Mindset Reset, Tiffany S wrote in and asked: “Danielle, I have heard you talk about the need to relinquish control and let go of the fight, but I’m not going to lie to you. Sometimes, I feel like doing so makes me a pushover or a doormat. I’m worried the people around me will abuse me because they know that I’m just going to let it go. I heard you also say that we want to get into a place where we’re surrendering, but again, that makes me feel like self-respect and self-love are not possible for me if I live in both spaces. Can you help explain—maybe I’m looking at it wrong?

True self-love and inner peace are only possible when we have the ability to see ourselves and own our experiences without deep diving into a spiral of negativity, self-doubt, and emotional dysregulation. After all, self-validation is the ability to accept our internal experiences, thoughts, and feelings.

As we continue our building series through the end of the year, we started with loneliness last week, and today, we’re taking a one-on-one deep dive into self-validation. Being unable to validate our emotions, thoughts, and feelings keeps us from living an emotionally stable life, holds us in a state of perceived unworthiness, and keeps us from our emotional best.

This week we are breaking down and trashing the barriers that keep us from validating ourselves, our emotions, and our thoughts.

With the holidays here, there’s often an uptick in depression and loneliness.

So, this week we’re taking a one-on-one deep dive into what loneliness is, how it smothers our self-love, the difference between being alone and feeling lonely, and how to make small shifts to release feeling this negative emotion. Sometimes it’s as simple as realizing we are not as lonely as we think.