Self-Care

Kindness Begins With You

You know that age old saying, “Treat others the way you want to be treated”?

Yes, we should be treating others with the same respect we intend on treating ourselves with, but sit with this for a second…how many times have you held a conversation with yourself or looked in the mirror and talked poorly about yourself?

I think so often we are conscious of how we talk to others that we forget to speak to ourselves with the same kindness.

Take time to notice when a friend or family member says something negative about themselves.

They may not realize what they are doing, but the more and more they say these words, the more it becomes natural to them and in doing so the more they convince themselves they are not good enough, not deserving enough, the list goes on etc.

Next, notice who is in the room. Maybe it’s just you, but maybe it’s a young adult, child, or friend who now hears that it is okay to say these hurtful words about ourselves.

The words you say to yourself have meaning to you, and whether or not you know it, they hold meaning to those around you.

Have you ever heard of those kindness chains where someone pays a gift forward?

How about we do that for ourselves!

How about we hold ourselves accountable for using kind words so that others can see it’s okay to hold ourselves to a high standard.

It’s okay to think of ourselves as intelligent, hard working or beautiful.

This is how you stop doubting yourself and start gaining that inner self confidence. Because when you know you got this, it doesn’t matter what others think of you, it matters what you think of you!

I could go on and on about this subject because it fires me up so much so. It hurts to see the people I love be so kind and caring towards others, but then forget to show themselves the same kindness.

To use all of their amazing gifts on making sure everyone else is taken care of , but neglecting to take care of themselves.

This is why self-care exists. This is why personal development exists. To take care of and lead others, we first must take care of ourselves.

So here is my challenge to you:

Write down what you love about yourself. Heck, go ahead and write a love letter to yourself, why not!

On days when you are feeling down, or not good enough, I want you to read that letter to yourself to remind you how loved and amazing you are.

I know this sounds super strange, and we are our own worst critics, but I want you to sit with that awkwardness and embrace all that you are, the weird, unique, best version of you.

Once you reclaim who you are and know exactly how amazing you are, there is no doubt in my mind that everyone else will see that radiance shining through you.

You deserve to be happy. You deserve to be proud of who you are.

Now go shine that light on you so that you can shine more brightly on others too.