5 Kind things to say about yourself

“My mistakes do not define me” 

Mistakes happen to everybody every day. It might be that you said the wrong thing and hurt someone, you clicked ‘reply all’ on a private email, or you simply showed up late because you got the directions wrong. Simply put, we all fall short sometimes. 

Instead of beating yourself up and ruminating on past mistakes, try looking at these mishaps or mistakes as opportunities to grow because messing up shows that there is still room to improve, grow and learn. 

“My wants and needs are valid” 

Recognising your true needs and wants can take time, we so often get lost in the lives, desires and demands of others, that we can end up losing ourselves a bit. 

Take the time to spot the things that make you feel happy and fulfil your needs- this will involve being more self-focused and setting boundaries as you consider what it is that you really want to do, feel and  achieve- you and nobody else. 

“I am braver than I feel in this moment”

We all have ‘bad days’ where our minds are full of negative thoughts, or we spiral, or perhaps on a particularly bad day, we can’t make it out of bed. It’s crucial to view these ‘bad days’ as just that and not equate them with a ‘bad life.’ 

It can feel deeply challenging to tell yourself that tomorrow will be better in those moments and reassuring yourself that you are braver than you feel is possibly the bravest thing any of us can do, Therapist Sharnade George says, “it helps to …” be aware of how your feeling and not suppress any unwanted emotions, or saying positive affirmations to help you feel uplifted.

“Things are not always as they appear”

Social media can trick its users into believing everyone is more fulfilled and happier than them. It’s designed to do so, otherwise we wouldn’t keep coming back to it to check what everybody is doing and how far they’ve come. 

This is a truth that most of us know and yet, for many people, the urge to compare themselves with the lives of others is overwhelming. 

Remind yourself that nothing is as it seems on social media and that the lives, success and looks of others is not reflective of your own. 

A practical way to think about it is this: think of all the negative things that have happened to you in the past month and then think about all the positive things too- which experiences made it to social media? It will be exactly the same for many others too. 

Credit: Charly Brown