Be Your Own Best Friend | Self-Encouragement

We can be very hard on ourselves. We tend to scold ourselves for what's not getting done and gloss over our victories. Thankfully, most of us hear something different from our friends: Our true friends support us, encourage us, help us problem solve and reassure us that we're okay, our ideas are sound, our projects are worthwhile and our talents are considerable. They help us through difficult times and help us celebrate our accomplishments.

We can learn a lot from our friends.

Stop for a moment and think about your best friend. What are they like? How do they treat you, on a daily basis? How have they helped you during difficult times? What things have they done or said that demonstrates their friendship and affection for you? How have they supported or appreciated your talents?

Now, think about yourself. How do you tend to talk to yourself? Are you your own best cheerleader or do you tend to berate up?

If the latter, why not take some conscious steps to treat yourself better? To show yourself the love your friends do?

Activity: Take a moment to write down the messages you'd rather have in your head. If you were your own best friend, what would you tell yourself? Keep this list somewhere where you will see it regularly.

Activity: Clear some uninterrupted time. Write yourself a letter of encouragement as if you were your best friend.

To what extent do you take good care of yourself? If you were your best friend, what would you encourage yourself to do more of? Less of?

Activity: List at least ten things you've accomplished.

Do you celebrate your accomplishments or do you gloss over them and run straight to the next thing on your list?

Activity: Pick something you can aim to celebrate in the near future. What upcoming project milestone or completion could you acknowledge? Make a point of doing so.

How do you feel about your talents? To what extent do you demonstrate your appreciation for them? What more could you do to honor your talents?

Activity: In the next month, seek ways to acknowledge your talents.

Activity: This week, practice being your own best friend.

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(c) Liisa Kyle, Ph.D.

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What about you? How have you been your own best friend? We’d love to know in the comments section below.

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