Be Kind To Yourself!

Do you consider yourself a kind, caring, understanding, forgiving, and empathetic person? Do you look for the good in people? Do you focus on the beauty of those that surround you? Do you tell those around you that you are grateful for them and appreciate what they do?

How many of you can say that you do all those things for yourself, too? Not many of us, I’m guessing.

Why don’t we treat ourselves the way we treat others?

We tend to hold ourselves to such an unattainable manner, constantly striving towards this idea of perfection that we, nor anyone else, could ever possible meet. We scrutinize ourselves, compare ourselves to anything and everything, and, as a result, we often feel like we are not enough.

Instead of mentally bashing ourselves, let’s lead by example and truly exemplify what it’s like to treat ourselves as one of our friends, not our enemy.

Be kind to yourself.

Start replacing the words “I Hate” with “I Love.” Start embracing your wins, small or big, rather than fixating on what you haven’t mastered quite yet. Use your “losses” to fuel your “wins”. Stop allowing yourself to pick apart your image in the mirror, instead say three things that you see that you love. Recognize your flaws, but don’t let them define you.

Be grateful for yourself because loving yourself is not selfish.

Compliment yourself. Treat yo’ self. Take yourself out on a date. Buy yourself flowers. Splurge on the shoes. Do what makes you feel the best. Because you deserve that.

I don’t know when we stopped celebrating and embracing ourselves, when we were taught that that wasn’t allowed—but it needs to stop now. We need to think of speaking kindly about ourselves as the norm, and it needs to be encouraged by our peers, our mentors, and most importantly ourselves. It only takes one person, one quote, one message, one statement, one story to start a movement. Let’s make this that one.

❤  Always!