Be Your own Best Friend.

So often, I hear the wonderful people I love in my life telling me how much they suck.

We are all (mostly) our own worst critics. This is a really hard thing to overcome and escape from. We tend to hold ourselves to some really high standards.

I invite you to think for a moment about what kind of standards you hold yourself to. Reflect on a time that you made what you consider to be a big mistake. Maybe you missed something in a presentation at work, maybe you dried out the turkey on Christmas Day, maybe the glaze on your pottery bowl you'd worked so hard on didn't turn out like you wanted. I'm sure we all have plenty of examples to reflect on, because we tend not to forgive ourselves too readily.

Now imagine that same scenario, and you're still there, but you're not the one who made this terrible/embarrassing/obvious mistake. Now, it's your best friend who did it.

How are you feeling towards them?

Are you angry at them?

Are you disappointed in them?

How are you feeling for them?

Is it still a big deal?

What are you saying to them in that moment?

What is the difference between what you would say to yourself, and what you would say to your best friend?

If the mistake is the same mistake, it should carry the same weight and implications no matter who does it. So why are you more kind to your best friend than you are to yourself? What if you were able to give yourself the same grace that you give to them?

What would it feel like to be kinder to yourself?

If we behaved like our own best friends, and spoke to ourselves like we speak to them, we would have a more loving life experience.

Be kind to yourself, you're in it for the long run together.