Hey Team!
Since I need constant reminders to be kind to myself, I feel safe in assuming that other people need those reminders, too.
Here, I’ll say it big so we all get the message.
Please Be Kind To Yourself!
There’s a lot going on it the world. There’s a lot going on in your life. You probably have lots of stuff to do. You’re probably trying to adjust to normal life after the flurry of December, no matter what you celebrated (or didn’t celebrate) last month.
That’s a lot of stuff to be carrying and working on all at once.
And, if you are also trying to build a new habit, change an old habit, or trying to expand your life in any way, then that’s even more work for your poor brain.
The only way to proceed, the only way to make any change, the only way to adapt to new circumstances, is by being kind to yourself.
As you forge ahead towards the life you want, you are going to have easy days and challenging days.
Some tasks will be really hard.
Some things will feel impossible.
Sometimes things will be so easy you will wonder if you did them wrong.
All of that is part of the process of change.
In fact, it’s all part of the process of being a human.
If you are mean to yourself when things are hard (or if you dismiss your efforts when things go well), you won’t be making them any easier, you’ll just be making yourself feel worse about them.
However, if you remind yourself that these ups and downs are a normal part of being human, a normal part of change, if you decide to treat yourself with compassion, then you will actually be making the hard parts a bit easier.
If you celebrate your efforts – even if things felt easy, you still DID them – then you will be reminding yourself that even easy tasks matter.
And that self-compassion, that self-kindness, will help you see yourself as a person who keeps moving towards the life you want, tiny step by tiny step, instead of getting trapped in judging yourself for imperfection.
So, again, always, as a favour to me, please, please, please:
Be kind to yourself in your thinking, in your planning, and in your doing.
When you choose self-kindness, you aren’t ‘letting yourself off the hook’, you aren’t ‘lacking discipline’, you are creating the circumstances for your own ease, happiness, and success.
Being kind to yourself can be hard work sometimes* but it is totally worth it.
With that said, here’s your gold star for today!
No matter where you are in your thinking, planning, or doing, I hope you’ll accept this gold star in recognition of your efforts.
The scope and volume of our efforts will vary from task to task, day to day, and person to person, but they all count.
Even the effort to assess your capacity and then decide how to proceed is gold-star-worthy.
It takes work not to just react to the ambient pressure around you and that counts, just as all of your other efforts do.
Go you!
And…
Go Team Us!
*Isn’t it kind of weird how *easy* it is to default to being mean to ourselves and how hard it can be to choose self-kindness? Yet, being mean to ourselves in the moment makes it harder for us to get where we want to go and being kind to ourselves will make things easier in the long term. Odd, right?
