Be As Kind To Yourself As You Would Be To A Friend

Here’s the thing: We are so much nicer to literally everyone else but ourselves. I was recently listening to one of my dear friends’ lamentations about themselves after something they did, and I thought to myself “She’d never say that to me. So why on earth is she saying it to herself?” We as women can be so about doing what’s great for “the team”, our loved ones, intimate partner, etc, that we often forget about ourselves. In the forgetting, we totally kinda write-off being nice to little ole us. What if you had a friend that kept choosing the wrong guy? Would you ever shout at her, “You stupid cow! You always pick the wrong guy! You’re an idiot!” No, most likely you’d try to explain to her why said wrong guy isn’t good for her; even if it’s your hundredth time explaining this to her. So why then, are we the most cruel to ourselves? Conditioning and negative self talk. How do we undo these things? By thinking of ourselves as the most precious and closest friend that we have, because my dear, you are. The next time that you do something you deem as silly try to refrain from the auto response of saying something negative about yourself. Instead do what you’d do for a friend. Take a breath, and then say the kindest thing you can think of, and talk yourself down from the issue. In time and with loads of practice, being nice to yourself will become a reflex.