Being kind or showing kindness to yourself is an important step in improving your health, fitness, relationships and your life in general. Far too often we are our own worst enemy, toughest critic and we selflessly give everything of ourselves to others. It maybe to your children, your partner, your family, friends and even your job. Giving of everything you have be it time, money, emotional, physical or even financial support, effort, assistance ultimately leaves the person who constantly gives of themselves the feeling of being unhappy, unappreciated, tired, resentful, angry, anxious and just plain taken for granted.
Unfortunately we believe that this selflessness is required because everyone else comes first. Sadly this position of leads to unhappiness, resentment, relationship breakdowns, poor health and fitness and for some sadly it causes mental health issues.
Being our own critic too can cause enormous problems. Low self esteem, self worth, anxiety and depression can arise from how we treat ourselves. I can stand up and say I am my own harshest critic. For a very long time, I told myself that the results I was achieving weren’t good enough, I didn’t like how my body looked, I felt I didn’t spend enough time with family and friends and I was very critical of how I did my job. This created enormous anxiety for me and ultimately led me to withdrawing from a lot of things because I couldn’t stand the guilt that I felt when I didn’t live up to my own expectations. I had to start treating myself with more kindness
I couldn’t continue down this path of being my own worst enemy. I sought advice and guidance, eventually reaching a point of much more balance when it comes to how I treat myself. One exercise I love to do is when I feel like I am judging myself harshly is I write down what I am thinking in my head over a situation and then I read it as if I am speaking to someone else about them, usually it ends up with me saying I am being too harsh and to give myself a break.
Social media is now such a powerful tool for so many good things BUT it is also a very unrealistic and narcissistic environment too. The life that most people portray on social media is just the life that people want you to see. It doesn’t include all the hard times, the struggles, the real life that everyone has. Sadly most people look at the social media and compare themselves against what is projected, which as we all know this is not a true reflection. Comparing ourselves against one another is a sure fire way to cause all sorts of unhappiness, the feeling of not being good enough, thin enough, tall enough, rich enough, basically enough in general.
Stop comparing yourself! You are enough! Comparison just leads to hours of wasted time and effort!
So how do you show more kindness to yourself? The answer is relatively simple, the implementation is the hard part.
- Make time for yourself, schedule it, make it non negotiable time
- Think about what you enjoy to do and bring it back into your life
- Exercise – being fit and healthy enables you to cope with life better
- Get off social media – restrict the amount of time you look at your social channels. Not only will it ease your mind but it will enable you to be more “present”.
- Stop comparing yourself to others. They are not you and nor you them. Your story is different. If you’re not happy with where you are at, change it.
If you want to start exercising maybe joining a group personal training class, or if you prefer the singular focus of one on one personal training or if you’re not local to where our studio is at our online personal training could be the solution for you!
Kindness starts with you.