What is Self-care? For me, Self-care looks more like Self Compassion.
Self Compassion is checking on that inner dialogue that is super critical and mean to us. The only way this works for me is to imagine that I am talk to my best friend or my children and think about what would I be saying to them. Then I literally talk to myself that way – its not weird, its actually comforting.
The research tells us we all spend an amazing amount of time (and energy) giving ourselves a hard time… Things like:
‘What the hell is wrong with you?’ and ‘You’re an idiot’.
This list is long! It's not useful makes us feel terrible. Those who practice Self Compassion actually experience less depression, higher levels of satisfaction in life, they are happier and more motivated.
The steps are:
1) Be Kind to yourself and stop your self-judgment.
2) Realise that part of growth is getting things wrong/failing because it’s the way we learn and become better. So its expected and its natural.
3) Being in the moment – stop, slow down, notice and calm your emotions and check your thoughts.
Do an experiment try the 3 steps and see if you feel better!