Be Kind to Yourself!

Are you hard on yourself whenever you make a mistake? Do you focus on your shortcomings rather than your accomplishments? The next time you find yourself beating yourself down, try speaking to yourself as if you are your best friend. If your best friend got a C on a test, you’d console her and remind her that a C won’t ruin her life. If your other friend felt bad about not exercising for a week, you would assure him that missing one week won’t diminish his progress. Sometimes it’s easy to be especially hard on ourselves. As we all know, mistakes are something everyone makes. They are necessary to learn about life. However, we tend to have higher expectations for ourselves than other people. When you notice the self-criticism rising, take a step back, breathe, and tell yourself what you would tell your friend.