Good afternoon, and happy Sunday!

This is just a quick food for thought, as we enter into the new week. A lot of times we’re so hard on ourselves, and we don’t tend to give ourselves enough credit for trying, or doing our best.

A lot of time, we can’t see our own progression, or how well we’re doing. I’m going to go through a couple of examples on ways you’re probably being a bit too hard on yourself. And ways we can get through this! And as always, I’m sharing this for me as much as I am for you. We can all do a little better at being kind to ourselves

How many wins have you had this week? Perhaps we don’t celebrate anything until we think it’s big, however you even getting up, doing your laundry, ticking items off your to-do list for the day. That’s a win. And the more we begin to celebrate ourselves, not just waiting for a major moment, probably the happier we will feel. That’s not saying don’t aspire for great things, yes. But congratulate yourself daily! Well done you for getting up and doing your best today.

I don’t know how many times I preach this to myself, but I feel sometimes I’m a bit more hard-headed than I like to admit. We need to stop the habit of comparing ourselves to others. Even when it comes to the things we’re doing well. Just because your success might not be as big in comparison to another individuals, but it’s still your win. A lot of times we don’t see how much work other people have put into getting where they are. So, don’t compare yourselves to others, because only you know how hard you’ve worked to get to where you are too. Your journey is your journey. Your path is your path. God has created you, and prepared you for where you are and where you’re going.

The bible tells us that our speech should be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that we know how to answer everyone (Colossians 4:6). At no point does this mean only when we talk to others we should speak with grace. But in general, how we speak should be gracious, including ourselves. We need to extend a lot of grace to ourselves, and stop speaking so negative. ‘I’m such an idiot, I’m such a failure’. There’s a practice we learnt this term on my Psychology course, I can’t remember the name, but it involved saying things like “I made a mistake” rather than saying “I’m such a mistake/I’m such a failure”. By saying “I did a bad thing” rather than saying “I’m such a bad person”. Extending grace and not speaking negative about our character. This has to start with even our thoughts, replace negative thoughts about yourself with positive ones too.

When we don’t take care of ourselves, not giving ourselves a break, such as pushing to work constantly, it’s not good. You working yourself overtime, and always feel like you have to be on the go. Scheduling your time properly, allowing yourself to have a break from time to time, eating well, being gracious to yourself and your body. Please, if there’s one thing, make as much effort as you can to look after yourself. Get some adequate rest! Take a day off, do something you enjoy!

I honestly believe there is nothing bad with aiming high, with setting the bar high for yourself. With wanting to achieve greatness. When we do this, we usually have a plan, set steps and have achievable goals we can aim towards. But what happens when we set unrealistic expectations of ourselves, it can tend to lead to burn out, or feeling upset when we don’t achieve that. You can only control your actions, certain expectations of things we want can be affected by external circumstances. Be realistic with daily expectations, yes push yourself but know your limits too. It’s better to exceed your expectations than feeling like you’ve not done enough. Does that make sense?

First of all, let’s learn to forgive ourselves, for mistakes that we have made in the past. Let’s learn to move forward and learn from the things we’ve done. Maybe yesterday didn’t go to plan, keep on keeping on, and let’s try again today. Dwelling on them won’t change them. Let go, and move on. Stop punishing yourself for yesterdays mistakes. Forgive and move forward, please.

So, that’s the end of my tips, please comment your tips on looking after yourself too!

Thank you so much for reading,

Have a fantastic Sunday, and a great start to your week

~ peace, joy & love x

TK