Free Printables, Monthly Motivation, Wellness

Be Your Own Best Friend! Monthly Motivation includes printable

Don’t wait for someone to bring you flowers. Plant your own garden and decorate your own soul.
~Luther Burbank

No matter how much we love the people in our lives, the only person we spend every moment with is ourselves. So why is it the relationship we have with ourselves is the one we prioritize the least? We need to put in at least as much effort to be our own friend as we do our friendships with other people. After all, how we view ourselves influences every other relationship we have.

I’ve talked before about the importance of showing love to yourself, and for this month’s Monthly Motivation, let’s talk about a few ways you can improve your relationship with yourself, and even become your own best friend.

Practice Self-Awareness

Being self-aware is not about being self-critical, it’s about recognizing your strengths as well as the areas you can improve on. You might want to gloss over your weaknesses, but being willing to learn about your imperfections gives you the opportunity to improve them.

Additionally, understanding what makes you unique or quirky is also important to become self-aware. Don’t be embarrassed by your uniqueness. It’s important to value those qualities and understand that it’s part of who you are.

Plan the Best Version of You

TherapyIdeas.net states that one way to build a healthy relationship with ourselves is to plan the best version of ourselves. One easy way is to write about who you’d like to be. This is for your eyes only, so don’t edit. Write whatever you want about how you’d like to think, feel, behave, look, and work.

After you’ve imagined yourself at your best, it’s time to take small steps towards the ideal you. Some things might not be possible, but if you break other goals down into small steps, you can certainly achieve them. Most, if not all, of what you’d like to do may be attainable when you break it down into bite-size chunks.

Speak Kindly to Yourself

Negative self-talk is draining and undermines our confidence, and is one of the biggest reasons we have a poor relationship with ourselves. Ditching negative self-talk is going to be the easiest way to improve your relationship with yourself.

PsychCentral.com encourages you to observe your thoughts. Instead of thinking, “I’m a failure!”, rephrase your self-talk to, “I’m having a thought that I’m a failure.” Observing that critical voice without judgement helps us to change how we speak to ourselves, and learn to speak with support and kindness. Think of how you’d speak to your friend. Simple tweaks in the language you use can drastically improve how you view yourself and the world around you.

Ditch the Cliff Dive Scenario

A cliff dive scenario is when you use terms such as always or never, nothing or everything. When you dive off the cliff, you jump or don’t. But in reality, life is full of gray areas so this kind of thinking can be toxic to building a relationship with yourself.

Not thinking about different solutions to a problem can make you feel insecure and disappointed with yourself. If you notice you’re thinking in cliff diving scenarios, try to think of different ways to get down from the cliff. Think of all the gray areas for alternatives to all or nothing.

Be Your Own Best Friend

I hope these tips will help you to be your own best friend and biggest champion, forever and always. Address your needs and desires and respect your boundaries. Self-care is the cornerstone of a healthy relationship with yourself. And to help, I’ve created a pretty printable that reminds you to plant your own garden and decorate your own soul!

Download your Plant Your Garden printable by clicking the button below

Download

All the Pretty Particulars

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This gorgeous artwork is from the Bestseller Watercolor Bundle by CreativeQube. I picked mine up from Mighty Deals and you can grab it here or here.

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