Self Love Series Pt IIII: Be Kind to Yourself <3
Hi! Welcome to the final part of the Self Love Series! Today I want to talk about one of the most essential things in learning about Self Love, which is learning how to be kind to ourselves.
Some of us, including myself, put so much time and energy into others that we never really get to put into ourselves. I personally tend to struggle with constantly doubting myself, or speaking to myself poorly, which may be something you struggle with as well.
I want to share how we can stop speaking to ourselves like this, and instead encourage, care, and be kind to ourselves.
Speak to Yourself As If You Were Speaking to Your Child Self.
I saw something on Pinterest about a year ago (follow me lol: @nasrinascollage) which showed a girl and herself as a kid. (If I find it I’ll put it here.) It had a long message that said something like: “Imagine this child was you. Tell this kid everything bad you would say to yourself. Tell this kid that they are stupid, and that they aren’t good enough.” It showed me how if you’re speaking to yourself in a negative way, you are speaking to the same person you were as a child.
How would you feel if you had to tell all the bad things you’d say about yourself to the child version of yourself? Because at the end of the day, we were that kid at one point. We should instead encourage and be kind towards that inner child we have. We should uplift them, inspire them, and let them know that everything will be okay, and we should do the same thing to ourselves.
2. Erase Your Doubt and Negative Thoughts and Replace Them With Positive Ones.
I know that this is not that easy. I struggle constantly with doubting myself. I doubt my abilities, I think horribly towards myself all the time. Even though I run a blog about loving ourselves, I still struggle with many of the concepts I have written myself. Because it’s a work in progress.
So, how do we erase our doubts and negative thoughts?
For me, I try to take a deep breath and replace the thought with something that contradicts it.
For an example, just a couple minutes ago I was doubting on whether or not I should even continue writing this post because I was worried it wouldn’t be good. I took a deep breath, and shooed the thought away with me thinking: “Everything will be fine. It will be good, because I am doing my best, and I like it, so that’s all that matters.”
I know it sounds difficult for some, but trust me, the more you try to replace your negative thoughts with something that contradicts it, the better your overall thoughts will be.
For an example, if you think something like “Ohh, I look ugly today.” I want you to try to replace it with something you would or could generally like about your appearance or you as a person.
Examples:
“I love how my eyes look.”
“I like how I look when I smile, I love my teeth.”
“I love how my voice sounds.”
“I love how I look in this.”
“I love how good I am at drawing.”
“I love how kind I can be.”
“I love how I have …….”
“I love that I am good at……..”
(Also, take time to write down or listen to affirmations to remind yourself how awesome and amazing you are <3)
Even if you don’t believe it yourself, the more you say something towards your brain, the more you will believe in it. It’s the same thing with negative thoughts, which is why it’s important that we should encourage ourselves, which not only betters our self esteem, but it also helps us in our self love journey. <3
3. Treat Yourself How You Would Want to Be Treated.
When we were children, many of us have heard the phrase “Treat Others The Way You Want To Be Treated.” This was mainly used to prevent kids from bullying or making fun of one another. But this can also be applied in our lives today as well. But, we should also do this for ourselves, replacing “others” with “ourselves.”
We should not bully ourselves, make fun of ourselves, or harm ourselves.
This is something many of may have trouble with.
We should treat ourselves how we would want to be treated with others. We should give ourselves nothing except kindness, respect, and warmth.
I truly believe that if we apply this statement not only with others, but with ourselves, not only will it improve our mental health, but it will also help us with our inner issues within ourselves.
4. Learn More About Yourself.
I feel that in trying to love ourselves, we should also take time to learn about ourselves. What we like, what we don’t like, and to try things and delve into passions that we may have never done before.
We all think that we may know ourselves pretty well. But in actuality, there’s many things, experiences or hobbies or people we have not seen or done yet. As we try to learn and explore new things, we also grow and evolve.
Take time to see or try new things! You want to try to do something you don’t think you’ll be good at? DO IT!! You want to change your hair or style? DO IT!! You want to try a new hobby? DO IT!! It doesn’t matter if we are good at anything we may enjoy, but as long as we enjoy it, then that’s all that matters.
We should not hold back at finding and discovering new things. So seek out new ideas and adventures, and have fun! <3
Ending Thoughts:
Of course, these things may not be easy for many of us as it sounds, including myself. But I promise you, if we try to change how you see ourselves and try to practice it, we will be in a much better place within our path towards self love <3.
We are all beautiful and amazing people, and many people close in our lives can see that too.
So, let’s try to see that within ourselves!
Thank you all for reading my series on Self Love. I wish you all an amazing day, and I’ll see you soon! <3
Update: I am so sorry for being late!! I did finish this a while ago, but due to several issues with my website and other things in my life, it caused delay in this upload.
xoxo
– nasrina
p.s : let me know if you have any ideas and suggestions by clicking the contact button down below the screen! <3
