The month of May is designated as the Mental Health Awareness Month. Although it was first acknowledged in 1949, it is always important to acknowledge the importance of mental health to our general wellbeing, the need to raise awareness of it, and the importance of helping those who need it receive treatment. We’re taking this opportunity to highlight the importance of taking care of one’s mental health, starting with the topic of being self-compassionate.
Whether or not someone has a mental health problem themselves, Mental Health Awareness Month makes people aware of how mental illness affects their lives, informs them of the services that are available, and emphasises advocacy strategies. Eliminating the stigma attached to mental illness requires both recognition and education. By discussing mental health openly, we may eliminate stigma and misconceptions and motivate those who are struggling to get assistance and connect with others.
Why Is Mental Health Important?
Our psychological, emotional, and social health are all included in our state of mental health. It affects our daily feelings, thoughts, and behaviours. Decision-making, stress management, and interpersonal relationships are all influenced by our mental health. A balanced life requires good mental health.
Your life depends on your emotional and mental health, which has an impact on your thoughts, actions, and emotions. Emotional well-being can increase efficiency and productivity in endeavours like work, study, and caring for others. It helps you adjust to transitions in your life and overcome difficulties. It also has a significant impact on the well-being of your relationships.
Why Do You Need To Be Self-Compassionate & Kind To Yourself?
Treating yourself with compassion is the same as treating a loved one. It involves treating yourself with kindness, accepting that everyone makes mistakes, and having the emotional intelligence to gently observe your sentiments without escalating them.
We can be kind to ourselves by having self-compassion. When circumstances are less than ideal, having the capacity to connect to yourself in a way that is accepting, embracing, and loving is a sign of self-compassion.
We become conscious of our own negative feelings and thoughts when we are self-compassionate, but we don’t overthink them or magnify their impact. Instead, we strike a healthy balance by managing our emotions from both ends.
8 Ways To Be More Self-Compassionate To Yourself
1. Change your mindset
Starting by considering the way you would treat people who are important to you is a smart idea. Therefore, even though we are unable to always remove another person’s suffering, we can acknowledge it when it occurs and offer assistance so that they can move past it and develop. Allow mistakes to happen. As you would treat others, take care of yourself too.
2. Become self-aware
Practise mindfulness because it helps us ground ourselves in the present moment. Not only is mindfulness one of the fundamental elements of self-compassion, but many practises like meditation and deep breathing can be done anywhere, at any time.
3. Do things you truly enjoy
Fun hobbies may appear to be something you don’t deserve if you’re battling with guilt. But every single one of us is deserving of having enjoyable, inspiring, and thrilling experiences. It is an act of compassion to give yourself permission to experience true happiness and to carve out time in your schedule to pursue your passions.
4. Reach out to people
Extending an arm to others, this strategy focuses more on understanding your emotions. We learn that we’re not the only ones who endure hardship at various times when we converse with others. It has a significant role in reinforcing our sense of unity, reorienting our perceived issues in the context of the “bigger picture,” and creating social support systems that are crucial to wellness.
5. Take good care of both your body and mind
Taking care of your body and mind is one of the most caring things you can possibly do for yourself. Spend as much time as you can learning new things, and be sure to nourish your body and mind with good things—healthy food, enjoyable interactions, knowledge, etc. A key component of being self-compassionate is being aware of your energy intake and expenditure.
6. Accept yourself
Be accepting of yourself. Adopting both your character strengths and your self-perceived flaws is necessary for this. It’s important to practise self-compassion so that we don’t define ourselves by our flaws. Instead, we should focus on our ideas, feelings, and behaviours.
7. Avoid making snap decisions or assuming anything
It’s quite difficult to forecast what will happen in life, even if assumptions and judgements are frequently based on knowledge or expertise of some kind. When you condemn yourself or assume what it is that you will do in the future, you deny yourself the chance to make a different decision. Stay open to all alternatives rather than placing limitations on yourself.
8. Be happy with yourself
Give up the need for approval from outsiders. Many of our negative thoughts are influenced by how other people see us. Many times, when we punish ourselves for consuming something, it’s because of social expectations, such as the need to maintain a specific weight or look a certain way. Thus, refusing to link our satisfaction to other factors can be a self-kind act with much wider consequences.
Being able to connect with yourself in a way that is kind, forgiving, and accepting even in challenging circumstances is a sign of having self-compassion, and it is important to practice it every day to live a good life.
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