Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Day 122- Take It Easy On Yourself

How many of you out there are your own worst critic? I know I definitely am. I told you yesterday that a big problem of mine is that I never seem to give myself enough credit. A lot of it, I think, is because I set such high standards for myself that when I don't meet them I get disappointed. This can eventually lead into thoughts of "I'm not good enough" or "I'll never be able to get to my standards."

One prime example of this is my battle with anxiety. I thought I would be able to get over it in no time. I had heard other people who had, so I should be able to do that also. I had always bounced back so well from all my surgeries as a kid, I figured this would be the same. I thought this whole process to take only a few weeks. When it didn't I felt defeated. I felt like nothing I did would help and that there wasn't much I could do. I wasn't acknowledging all the little steps I had been making. In a way, I was working with an all or nothing mentality.

I wish I could say that I've over come the habit of being hard on myself, but I haven't. I have, though, tried harder to look at things in a perspective of realistic vs. unrealistic. A case would be that I knew going into my new job it would have been unrealistic to not have questions. I would ask questions. So if I had to ask 100 questions that was going to be fine. By knowing that going into my first day, I didn't walk away at the end of that day feeling dumb and unqualified.  

I have also learned to be more forgiving of myself. I can't tell you what the shift for this has been, but I think a lot of it has come from my new perspective on religion and God. If you have ever read the Bible, gone to church, or just learned about any of the concepts of Christianity you know that God knows that as humans we aren't perfect. He knows that we are going to sin and make mistakes, but as long as we love Him and believe in Him, all our mistakes will be forgiven. So if He can forgive me when I take a few stumbles or have set backs, why can't I?  

I challenge you to try, for just one day, to not be hard on yourself and give credit where you can. Wake up in the morning and write down everything you need or want to accomplish that day. Are they realistic? If not, change them so thy are. Then at the end of the night, look back on this. If there were things you messed up or didn't reach, that's okay. If you forgive yourself, then you allow yourself to try again the next day. The best way we can take steps forward is by kindness and understanding, and if you can give yourself those things there is nothing better.


Day 22- Words of Wisdom.... "There is no need to have to prove anything to anyone else." AND "Learn from life's low moments." AND "Say 'please' and 'thank you' liberally."

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