Many people go through their lives hating and repressing themselves. They blame it on themselves, their situation, their environment, their past or specific people who are or were in their life. I myself have even given in to self hate, almost everyone does. However, this does not mean you have to choose to continue living in the negatives. There are so many ways to easily slide some positivity and self love into your life no matter how busy you are you can hopefully use some of these tips to improve your self love. Also to be able to fully reconnect with yourself and embrace instead of repressing who you really are.
Tip 1: Journaling according to Harvard studies showed that “Compared to writing about things other than one’s worries, expressive writing about one’s worries did in fact reduce the size of the negative brain wave signal in people who worried a lot. This implied that “offloading” your worries into free-form writing frees up mental resources that you can then use to complete tasks more easily.” (www.health.harvard.edu/blog/write-your-anxieties-away-2017101312551) Journaling and writing have a tendency to really loosen up our gears. Whether it be about your day and your reflections, or a fun short story. Try your hand at it for a week writing either when you wake up, or just before you go to bed. Even consider keeping a dream journal and take note of the parts or whole dream that you can remember in the morning. You could also keep a journal and write and analyze your negative thoughts by using the next tip.
Tip 2: Self compassion and Reflection, (I personally use this tip) the idea is when you have a negative thought or a traumatic past memory analyze and reflect on the situation or thought, see it from multiple perspectives. This can often bring clarity to one’s past by going through the memory and bringing light to all sides of the story. When it comes to negative thoughts such as “Why even try you can’t do it, you know you can’t.” taking the time to analyze and come up with a comeback such as “Well I graduated last year so I know if I can do it then I can now.” However, not everyone has the confidence or will to be able to fight their inner negative voice. I would recommend in that situation to put yourself in the shoes of someone you think is strong enough too. Such as a friend, a character, a personal hero, etc. Empower yourself by learning from your heroes and the strong characters that surround your life. This internal persona can help to guard you and help fight negative thoughts. Such as “Why even bother exercising when you’re going to give up eventually.” The character may be someone like Shrek. “Says the voice with no body, jealoos mooch.”
Tip 3 : Self care. We all hear over and over again how great exercise and eating right is for you. Well they are correct exercising causes sweating and sweating causes reduction in your immune system, chemicals that can make depression worse. Therefore Exercise can in turn increase your level of endorphins. They act as natural mood lifters, and exercise can also help to reregulate your sleep pattern. Also exercise can be as little as a 30min walk or online yoga video you can follow. Just something to help a bit of endorphins to come out. Eating healthy can also be easy, maybe try meal prep, or try to budget in healthier snacks (Personally I try to get a few different options such as berries and fruit as a sweet option, and a savory, salty snack such as veggie chips or trail mix from a bulk store.) Eating healthier can brighten your mood and feel more inclined to be able to embrace yourself just by adding more nutrients and nutrition to your diet. Another tip to healthy eating is to always have a water bottle with you and fill it up when you can. To encourage yourself to drink more water, give yourself a sticker every time you finish a bottle or when you finish your daily goal.
In conclusion everyone at some point in their life has had negative thoughts. The only way we can win against ourselves is to arm ourselves and give the fighting chance to become successful and happier. These tips may seem either silly, daunting, simple, or too hard depending on who you are and where you are in life. My only hope is you consider the tips I have provided and know that the sky is limitless and so should be your imagination and goals. So go big or go home and be yourself because everyone else is taken, and the only you who can be better than you is you. So don’t be afraid of who you are, don’t suppress it, embrace you with all your heart.
Note: The Free Your Mind Mental Health Society is an independent youth-led organization. The contents of this blog are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. In the event of a medical emergency, please call your doctor or 911 or other local emergency numbers immediately.