Tool 8: Treat Yourself Kindly
Are you too hard on yourself?
One day, she had a startling insight as she watched her nephew being coached in soccer. The coach berated him for missing a pass. Her nephew stood dejected, tears in his eyes, and then announced later that he didn’t want to play anymore. As she was talking to her sister, her nephew’s mother, about the coach’s unhelpful approach to teaching a child, she realized, “This is what I am doing to myself!” Perhaps being kinder to herself might actually help her be the kind of mother she wanted to be.
Can you identify with Linda? Do you also talk to yourself like the merciless coach whenever you don’t meet your own expectations? How is this approach working out for you?
Adjust your expectations
Perhaps it’s time to reconsider whether being hard on yourself has really been helpful to you.
Here are some questions that might shed some light.
In our experience, people who answered “yes” to most of these questions feel “bullied” by their high expectations. They are also more likely to feel irritable, anxious, depressed, and dissatisfied even after working very hard to meet their expectations. Sometimes they got so stressed about meeting their expectations that they ended up procrastinating or avoiding the tasks all together. Does this sound familiar?
If you found that being hard on yourself has cost you and would like to be more self-nurturing, these tips can help you on the path to greater self-compassion:
