What does being kind to yourself look like?
For any long-time readers, you know that I occasionally like to change things up a bit on here. I mean, this blog is nine years old, after all, and things can easily get a little mundane…at least for me. I’m going to try making Monday my dedicated “personal post” day and, I’m gonna be honest, I’m a little bit nervous about it. My personal posts on this blog have been few and far between, mostly because I try to keep my personal life/thoughts totally separate as a result of simply just needing an outlet AWAY FROM THEM. Beauty is a vacation from our personal lives. Mascara isn’t going to save the world, or get cancer, or break up with you…it’s just FUN, and that’s why I love it. But lately I’ve been thinking about the art of being KIND to yourself. It’s something that, at first glance, might seem like it should be totally innate, but when you actually sit down and think about it, it REALLY, REALLY is NOT.
I, for one, have always been extremely hard on myself. I’m my own worst critic.
I’m sure there’s some long-winded explanation as to why I’ve always been this way and I’ve heard them all at this point: it’s because of your parents (but, really, isn’t everything because of our parents?), it’s because you’re an overachiever, it’s because you choose to BE that way…WHATEVER. It doesn’t even really matter what made me this way, what matters is that NOW, at 32, I make a conscious effort to forgive myself.
I am KIND to myself, even when I make a “mistake” or something doesn’t go my way. Most of the time when these feelings come up, it’s not because of some epic, life-changing mistake, it’s actually more about the little things. Oh, you know, like when I eat an entire plate of french fries when I’ve been trying for weeks to lose a little weight. Or when I make a list of things I need to buy at Rite Aid and, inevitably, I will ALWAYS forget at least one thing…even WITH A LIST. WHO DOES THAT? Can I not read my own list?! I had it physically IN MY HAND THE ENTIRE TIME.
These are the things that set me off, but when you remind yourself that it’s crucial to be nice to yourself, it’s somewhat freeing…and not in a way where you’re then free to intentionally f*ck up your life, but more in the sense that nothing is really final and there’s always a way to fix something, or at the very least move on from it…and isn’t that what life is really all about? LEARNING?
So, I’m curious…how are you guys kind to yourself? Is this something that you even have to remind yourself to do? Or do you just do it innately?
Xo,
Jamie
