Fill Your OWN Bucket Too!

There is this book my mother gave me that I read my girls regularly called, Have You Filled a Bucket Today? A Daily Guide to Happiness for Kids. It explains in very simple terms that each person in the world carries an imaginary bucket around with them. If a person's bucket is full, they are happy. If a person's bucket is empty, they're sad. It illustrates everyone carrying around simple silver buckets full of rainbows, hearts, and swirls, running around filling each other's bucket. It's very cute, and a great way to teach kids about kindness. You can either be a bucket filler, or a bucket dipper.
 Bucket fillers are kind and loving; they do nice things for people, share, smile, include others and say nice things to people. A bucket dipper is someone who says mean things, is dishonest, steals, teases and makes people feel sad. It's easy for me to remind the girls as they leave each day to 'be a bucket filler!' They know exactly what to do and it's easy and sweet to watch.
The book has a good message, but it misses a really important point that I want my girls to understand: they can fill their own buckets too! There will be times in their lives when that is the only way their bucket will get filled.
So then I think, why aren't I filling my own bucket? Why am I so regularly mean to me? Why don't I take better care of myself and recognize the beauty that is me? I sometimes find myself desperately searching for acceptance, recognition, and love from other people. I now realize that all this time I have been looking for those things and I needed them from MYSELF. It doesn't matter what other people think of me.
I recently read a quote online that said, "It is none of your business what other people think of you." At first I was sort of offended by it, but then I got it. Seeking approval from others will only waste my much needed energy and time. People will perceive me based on their own conditioning and filters.
So maybe I've lived my life a little bit sheltered. I've been INACTIVE in a lot of things in my life because I was afraid of being hurt and vulnerable. It takes a lot of courage to go out and live your dreams and be who you want to be. No one but ME, not even my sweet husband, can determine my own happiness, and at the end of the day, I am the one who has to live with myself. So let the bucket filling begin!