how we treat ourselves

We're so hard on ourselves. We get caught up in what we could have done better or what we should be doing instead. We create so much stress by focusing on all the ways we're wrong.

So it hit me when my client said as we were celebrating on her last call, "I now realize how important it is to have compassion for myself because then I can have compassion for others."

Wow. When we know that we have to stop judging ourselves in order to stop judging others, it puts finding that compassion for ourselves in perspective.

Because it's easy to be our own worst critic. I remember feeling like beating myself up was a badge of honor. It was a habit. And if I held myself to standards way beyond what anyone else would expect, I was sure I wouldn't let anyone else down.

It feels crazy to say now (and I didn't realize it until much later in life), but I thought that in order to be the best and do my best, I had to constantly critique myself.

But isn't that exhausting? If you're living in that place - the overthinking, over critical, over punishment place - you know it is.

But what if, even just for today, you could show yourself some grace? How might you show yourself some compassion?

Maybe it's by choosing to journal or showering for longer than 8 minutes (one of my old weird rules) or taking off the fit bit for a day or having an extra snack because it sounds good or celebrating what you've accomplished today or..... how about you fill in the blank below!

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📷 : @kelsielynn_photography