Recently and particularly during the last few months, I’ve become a lot more introspective and observant. That’s not like a humble brag, if anything I wish I wasn’t this observant because it’s made my life difficult to know what people are truly like. But that’s beside the point. The point is, one thing I have observed is that self-compassion is rare. We try so hard to be kind to one another. But are you treating yourself with kindness in the same way? Because many of us are not.
It’s obviously a very good thing to be kind to others and we want to be as kind as we can be. But let’s not forget we’re human being too. And treating yourself with kindness is incredibly important. Let’s not neglect ourselves anymore.
Understanding this has really helped me be kinder to myself and I wanted to share some tips on how you can do that too:
Self-Care
Self-care is the hill I will die on. There’s a huge difference between self-care and selfishness. Self-care is about prioritising yourself, treating yourself with kindness and love, doing little things for yourself that make you feel good.
Unfortunately, self-care has become so commercialised that people think they have to spend hundreds or thousands. But the truth is, you can do things that are affordable or even completely free. I actually have an earlier post about free self-care tips that you can read here.
Meditation
Meditation is one of the best things you can do for yourself. It has been shown to improve both mental and physical health when one meditates regularly.
From personal experience, I can tell you that meditation can be life changing. It feels you with a kind of peace that you will never find scrolling through your phone or even doing anything else. It’s just a different kind of free and serene.
Nutrition
Treating yourself with kindness means treating your body with kindness too. What you put inside your body is what fuels you. If you choose to treat your body like crap by feeding it unhealthy food on a regular basis, you are not doing yourself any favours. In fact, you’re pretty much telling yourself that you don’t care. And that’s really sad because our body does so much for us.
Feed yourself healthy, delicious and nutritious food. Yes, healthy food can absolutely be delicious. I eat healthy about 90% of the time and I love the dishes I make. They taste amazing and really changed my physical and mental health for the better. I can concentrate better, my blood pressure lowered, my thyroid went back to normal, my allergies went away. Seriously, food is life and what we put into our bodies makes the biggest difference. Take good care of you.
Lifestyle
Lifestyle is something we need to pay so much more attention to. I know with the way the world is right now, we’re encouraged to work super hard to make the bare minimum. Even if that means sacrificing our health. But one thing we need to keep in mind is that our health is everything.
Those late nights that are ruining your sleep cycle, that fast food your order every day because you don’t have time to cook, the drinking/smoking you do to cope with your existence. All that is going to catch up with you at some point.
I know it’s not easy or even possible for everyone to change their habits. But try to do what you can. Try to sleep on time, wake up on time, meal prep and eat healthier, let go of unhealthy habits and live the best life you can in your circumstances. Even if it’s something small like integrating 15 minute meditation sessions in before bed or right after waking up. Those little things do make a difference. You only have this one body in this life, do the best you can for it.
Conclusion
I hope these tips are helpful. As I’m sure you guys know because I won’t shut up about it, I’ve been going through a lot recently. I’m seeing people for who they are and trying to recover from narcissistic abuse tactics. It’s been tough. The guilt trips, love bombing, constant mood swings etc has been a lot for me to deal with. But treating myself with kindness and love has helped so much. And I thought I would share what works for me so that if someone else out there is struggling too they have some tips pointing them in the right direction.
As my depression and anxiety gets better, I hope to share more mental health tips so be on the lookout for that in the following weeks.
Disclaimer: If you or someone you love are experiencing mental health problems please talk to a professional or someone you trust. Please seek help if you feel that it is necessary. There is absolutely nothing wrong with needing help.
How do you feel about self-compassion and self-care? How are you treating yourself with kindness this year? Let me know in the comments below because I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts. Or simply stop by and say hi!
If you would like to read more mental health related posts click here.
I recently published my first book and would be very honoured if you took a minute to check it out here.
If you enjoyed this post don’t forget to like, follow, share and comment!
Enjoyed this post? Then follow me on social media:
Twitter Instagram Pinterest LinkedIn HubPages
Email me on(guest posts welcome!): insomniacwithanaccent@gmail.com
Leave a Reply