Welcome to Day 18 of the 30 Days of Encouragement series. This series encourages you to trust the process, extend grace to yourself as you step into the unknown, and keep going even when it is difficult. 

Today’s post is about practicing loving yourself.

Loving Yourself Despite

We each have areas of ourselves – internal and external – that we are not overly enamored with. For instance, if I let myself, I can be more disorganized than I would like and be led around by a lack of motivation. I used to bully myself about these things with the thought process that if I just tried harder, they would go away. It turns out that makes them dig their heels in even more. It was not until I looked them square in the eye and accepted that I have these tendencies that change began to take place.

Practicing Loving Yourself

Another fun tendency I have is thinking that once an issue is addressed, it is resolved. Like magic! Unfortunately, for the whiny person living inside me, it does not quite work that way. Addressing it is the first step. Luckily, resolution can be a single act or a process. Whichever one it is will depend on how deeply rooted the issue goes.  

If I put off cleaning the kitchen for the day, then the single act of cleaning it before bed resolves that. If I have had a lifetime of body doubt, practicing being kind and supportive of my body will be a process. I used to think practicing was a negative that meant you were failing at whatever you wanted to achieve. However, I no longer see achieving as the goal of practicing but instead learning to show up for yourself where you are at as you go through life.

3 Simple Tips for Loving Yourself

• Accept the areas you are not proud of. As stated above, own up to what you are not proud of. Do not attach feelings to these areas – particularly guilt or condemnation. Just look at them as they are. They exist, and now that you accept they exist, you can formulate a plan to begin to change them. Simple, detached, clinical.
• Get help if you need it. There is not any shame in asking for help or seeking guidance from someone explicitly trained to resolve what it is you are dealing with. We each have areas that we struggle with and whether they require a professional or not is a personal decision. Should the places you fight with be more profoundly entrenched and/or unsafe, unhealthy behaviors, get help. If you struggle with being disorganized, hire a professional to get the ball rolling if you can. You will still be retraining yourself to be organized by keeping things in place; yet it will be minus the overwhelm of starting from scratch.
• Practice is not a bad word. Do not set yourself up for failure by thinking every area you want to work on will be a one-and-done deal. Some areas are more difficult to tackle because they are habits made over a lifetime. If you have been more sedentary and commit to start moving your body more, do not be surprised if there are days you do and days you do not. The habit of practicing will need to be built up over time. The key here is to begin practicing again as soon as you realize you have stopped showing up for yourself. You CAN do this! 

Until Next Time,

Sarah