I have been trying to come up with something clever to get you guys to do to win the size 8 Everlane ponte pants I bought to review, but I couldn’t think of anything. So, all you have to do is leave your name and email address in the form below.
But not to leave anyone out, I also have two $25 gift cards to Everlane to give away. Just because. This giveaway isn’t sponsored or sanctioned by Everlane at all.
I have been thinking a lot about love though. Not because of Valentine’s day, ew. Because I want to be more loving. Love is everything. We should do all things with love, for ourselves and for others. Sometimes the “love ourselves” part is the hardest; it’s easy to be loving towards others, but harder to forgive ourselves for mistakes we think are so grave. Or for some of us, it’s harder to be loving towards people we disagree with, or can’t relate to, or who we think are just plain WRONG.
But that’s when it’s most important to approach things with love. When it’s hardest. When you don’t want to. When it feels unthinkable.
I’ve been practicing this in very small ways in my own life, with some success. As an extremely opinionated person, and as one who NEEDS to always be right, I find it so hard to let go of being right, in favor of being loving, but it’s getting easier every day. And has made such a difference.
So, to enter to win any of these Everlane gifts, all you HAVE to do is leave your name and email address, but maybe also you could think about being more loving? Being more gentle on yourself? Less focused on being right, and changing minds, than on being open, tolerant, and loving towards others? (not that you’re not already…but you know what I mean LOL)
To enter to win one of two $25 Everlane gift cards, just leave a comment below – DO NOT leave your email address in the body of the email, it will show up to me only when you fill out the comment form – just make sure the email address you’re using is valid.
To enter to win the Size 8 Charcoal Everlane cropped ponte pants, leave your name/email in the form BELOW (if you can’t see the form, please click THIS LINK):
(you can enter both, but please make sure you can wear, or pass on to someone you love, the size 8 Cropped ponte pants in charcoal if you enter to win those!)
THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED and winners chosen, thank you to all who entered!!!!!
I am trying to be more loving toward people who voted differently than I did in 2016. I WANT to scream and rage at them, but it won’t be productive and will just harm my relationships. This is one of my big goals for 2016. Thanks for the reminder 🙂
Thank you for this positive message and thinking, always such welcome words.
Would looooove those pants. That is exactly my size!
Thank you for this great giveaway, and also for the great prompt/reflection topic!
Thanks for the giveaway! The pants look right up my alley.
Thanks for the positive words as always. 🙂
What a nice giveaway – I appreciate all of your everlane reviews.
Love your blog!
It helps to remind myself to approach others “with curiosity instead of judgment.”
Being loving towards others isn’t hard for me; it’s the being loving to myself that’s tough! But I am trying to be kinder to me. After all, I am stuck with me until I die…… and probably beyond!
So sweet of you yo do this! Makes me want to pass on the positivity!!
I’ve checked in almost every day for over a year now, never commented before. I got a little over excited when I saw the giveaway. I entered for the pants before I read the whole article. I’m not absolutely sure that an 8 will fit me. I’ve only ordered tops from Everlane. I would enjoy a GC though, I’ve been eyeing a couple of sweaters.
I’ve been wanting to tell you how Great you look!! (I’m not just trying to butter you up so I win:)
I’ve enjoyed you sharing and seeing your metamorphisis, it’s sort of like checking in with a friend every day. I even tried to find a Purre Bar near me, it’s a bit of a drive. I need easy to maintain consistency.
I’ve been struggling to get my workout routine back.
I’ve found having an outlet to channel emotions, whether postitive or negative is a great filter to help balance me. Thus enabling me to be more open to Love.
I’m not commenting to enter a contest. I found your post far more thought provoking than its brief and lighthearted tone would suggest. Really, I thought about it off and on all day. I don’t think “love” makes anything better, although YMMV depending on the one’s definition of the term, I suppose. What does NOT make anything better is the obsession with being “right”. I’m not sure how this applies specifically in your life, Grechen, but relationships are shattered and wars waged over being “right”. It is incredibly destructive.
One of the most shocking and challenging aspects of my medical training was how very little black and white there is – even in science and medicine, there is so much gray, so much open to interpretation, which is of course subject to personal bias/prejudice. I think bad doctors refuse to work in the gray area because it makes them uncomfortable, i.e. they can’t say they are “right”. It was barely 100 years ago that women were hysterectomized or treated with vibrators by physicians to treat “hysteria”. It’s laughable now, right? But then, it was an accepted medical truth.
Along those lines, things that our contemporary Western culture finds abhorrent is perfectly acceptable in another culture or another time, and vice versa. “Norms” change. What’s “right” and “wrong” changes. Man is the only animal arrogant enough to think that his beliefs are universally true, for real. Just because you don’t like [x] doesn’t mean your friend who does like [x] is “wrong”.
So even if “love” in a traditional sense may not make everything better maybe appreciating the fact that everyone’s reality is different and there is often no right or wrong might be a really kind gift to give another human being
PS) Sorry if disjointed. Distracted because there was a TV commercial for a potty spray called VIPoo and it was HIGHlarious. Do they sell at Costco because I would like to buy in bulk. Men are stinky.
It’s been a challenging season. Love seems elusive at times, but it is especially necessary now.
I am trying to be less emotionally reactive!
Being more mindful and kind to myself will have a direct impact on my ability to be patient and nurturing to those around me…especially my students!
Thanks for sharing these words, it’s especially meaningful and important right now in this world! And thanks for hosting this giveaway, it’s incredibly kind of you.
Thank you for the giveaway and your thought-provoking words! <3
Thank you for your thoughtful, unassuming voice!
What a nice surprise! I’d like to enter for the gift card. Thanks Gretchen.
I love the Everlane cropped pants you reviewed this week and am eager to try them after reading your thoughts. My mantra is to talk to myself the way I would talk to a friend. We all need to be kind and gentle with ourselves!
This is an excellent topic. I think sometimes I get so wrapped up in day to day activities I forget about taking time to focus on love. Therefore, I am working really hard at trying to change my negative statements that are in my head, or out loud, to grateful ones. Instead of being frustrated or upset that I have to do something, I am trying to stop that thought and think of what about the situation I am grateful for. I am just starting down this path but in a short time it has changed my attitude towards situations and people when normally I would just stew about it. Loooonng way to go but hopefully more gratitude leads to more love. Thanks for the post!
Thank you for your thoughtful posts Grechen. I look forward to checking your blog every day.
Thanks for this post. After the body shaming Gaga just went through I feel this message is an important one. Gaga said she loved her body and that we should love our bodies too. That’s good stuff and message I feel resonates on your pages as well. I would love a gift certificate to everlane. Thanks for sharing the love
Good reminder for us. I am combining this with thinking about patience. For myself and for my loved ones.
Thank you for sharing the love!
I work on a college campus and this something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. How do I model caring and understanding for my students? How do I support them during a time when many of them are fearful? But as I do this, even as I think of my own behavior, it is sort of other-facing. I can’t demonstrate the value of an open-hearted approach to life if I don’t value it enough to practice what I preach all day long, not just when I am on campus.
Thank you for the food for thought.
Thanks for being a lovely presence in my day. I always appreciate your honest self-reflection and thoughtful insight.
A reminder that I have been given grace in large measure; and that I need to give that grace to others as well.
Thank you for opening up this discussion. I am approaching the concept of love 2017 by trying to be more accepting of my body and hopefully spreading the self-love through positivity and leading by example in this area. I work with lots of bodies on a daily basis (health care professional) and it makes me so sad how many people apologize to me for their bodies or avoid looking at themselves in the mirror. I want to be grateful that my body has carried me this far and respect it’s needs and care for it in gentle ways.
Thought provoking! I have tried to verbalize my thoughts on this for this comment, but they end up being to negative on myself — so I have some work to do still!
I love this!
Love is… learning to remember everyone is fighting their own battle. So when someone cuts me off in line at the grocery store (…!) and when someone is snappy or snarky, I’m learning to love through grace and remembering that though I might not know or see the battle their facing, I can offer love as my response.
Thanks for what you do and stand for! I love following you on Social Media and how you take Real Life photos. Makes this whole conscious shopping and approach a less lofty goal and more real life approachable. 🙂
Best to you!
Love your everlane review posts! 🙂
I would “love” to be entered for the gift card(s)… Everlane has been on my list of companies to try out, and that might jus be the right boost!
A friend and I were talking just the other day about love, and the difference between how we define it and how our culture does. For us, love is not merely a feeling, but a choice and committment to act in a way that is kind and filled with compassion, and frequently sacrifice.
Thanks for the positive message. It’s been difficult these past three weeks to see that.
I also like to be right and I am working on hearing others with openness rather than resistance. Sometimes I think of it as coming from a place of love. When I do this I think I have more integrity and feel better about who I am.
Like other commenters, I would like to practice more loving toward those who have very different political ideas. It feels especially difficult right now to feel compassion for those who have differing views on climate change, social justice, etc. It can be too easy to lump people into a group, and it is overly simplistic to assume that the people on the “other side” are all “bad” people. I want to learn more about the motivations of others, and to express love through earnest perspective taking.
I *love* your prompt! (And I love Everlane.) I’m embarking on a new career at last, and I’m struggling with giving myself grace as I learn and grow. I want to be good at everything NOW. I will try to practice more self-love. 🙂
Awesome giveaway!
I recently had a baby; almost 5 weeks old now. My first. I find myself thinking so much about the kind of person I want him to be. And what I keep coming back to is that I want him to have a kind and gentle soul and be good to others. The only way I can guide him to that is by ensuring that he get all the love I can give. This is my purpose every single day.
I love this, thank you!
Thanks for this fun contest! I hope to add an Everlane piece to my wardrobe one day.
I usually think Dr. Phil is kind of an a$$ but I remember one show where he told a guest who was embroiled in a family disagreement: “You can either be right or you can be happy.” That really resonated with me. There are just some disagreements that just aren’t worth losing friends or family for. What does being right really get you? Just some food for thought.