Posted by Yes, I am referring to you. You who constantly works till you wear yourself out. You who thinks and feels that others are better than you, you who sees nothing wrong in starving yourself or inflicting yourself pain all because you failed in one thing or the other; be kind to yourself.
It is no news that the world is moving really fast, the twenty four hours, sometimes just does not seem to be enough. And so when our feet hits the floor of our bedroom, we go on a marathon at work till we get home exhausted. This, you may think is justifiable, after all, a man’s got to work. But what happens when the man is doing it at the detriment of his health?
A story is told of a doctor who never had time for his family, he was always at work. Anytime he was off duty and immediately his feet hit the door of his home just to get well rested, he would receive a call and then he would just head back to the hospital, no rest, no proper time to relax. He had a sense of duty, but it was misdirected. He did not see a need to outsource some of his duties. He felt he was indispensable. He kept at this routine, till one day, his body could not take it anymore and his heart failed him.
Listen, no matter how much you feel you want to bring food to the table, it should not be at the expense of your health or your rest time. As much as you need to get money or wealth, remember you need your body to be sound and healthy in order to do so. Being kind to yourself means, taking breaks when necessary and setting time apart to have proper rest.
Because as the world is moving and changing rapidly, it also tends to define what we live by. From the body shapes that are trendy, to the “in vogue” wears. You will find a person starving themselves just to get into the shape put up by the society. But who set these standards anyway? Part of being kind to yourself is accepting who you are, loving yourself and taking proper care of yourself. Are you harsh on yourself and keep hurting yourself because you feel the world just won’t accept you by your looks? Take a U-turn, change your mindset and begin loving yourself.
When people abuse themselves and call themselves all sort of names just because they failed at one thing, it is a wonder. They use the words “I am no good, stupid, clueless…..” and a long list of other derogatory words all because what they set out to achieve did not work out the way they planned it to.
Not knowing that the words you say to yourself are very important and eventually affects a person, whether those words are good or bad. Or like they say, you become whatever you tell yourself.
If you are in this category, begin to practice gratitude and to appreciate the gifts life has offered you. From family to friends, to even life itself. Being kind to yourself implies showing gratitude for what you have now, while being grateful for what you will eventually have even though things do not seem to work out the way it is supposed to.
It is necessary that every individual in a society learns to love themselves and be kind to themselves. This is necessary because, how you treat and take care of yourself can reflect how you will eventually treat others. A healthy individual in both heart, body and mind will give birth to a healthy society.
If you are having problems loving yourself or appreciating yourself, here is something that can help. First, you need to know that the root cause of unkindness stems from;
a. Comparisons- stop comparing yourself with others and how far people have gone with their journey. Stop looking at other people’s beauty and questioning your uniqueness. This zcauses stress and pressure. Let it go and begin looking at yourself from the standpoint of positivity and growth.
b. Forgiveness- a lot has happened to so many individuals. Most times they have been faced with abuse and traumas that they find it difficult to forgive others and most importantly themselves.
Others are filled with regrets and believe that if they should hold on to the regrets it will be a reminder not to be careless or repeat the same mistakes.
However, for there to be proper growth, joy and happiness in a person’s life, you need to learn forgiveness. Let the past hurts and pain go and begin a new life.
Today, love yourself, be kind to yourself and appreciate the fact that you are constantly growing. Apart from the fact that it will make you happy, eventually when this show of love is shown to others it extends to the society and there is an outburst of growth and progress.
Photo Credit: PowerOfPositivity