Day 162: Self-acceptance

Self-acceptance could be difficult if you grew up in an alcoholic or dysfunctional family. Do you accept yourself? When problems arise in your life, and you look at the mistakes you’ve made, and the quirks in your personality, how accepting are you of yourself?

Growing up, I was made fun of because I worse glasses, how skinny I was, and for not being good at sports. I liked to read and to learn. One of my favorite past times as a kid was reading.

The way the world saw me as a kid and the way I saw myself often clashed.

Now, as an adult, I can see my personality quirks, and I am more accepting of who I am.

But how do you feel about yourself?

When you make a mistake, what is the first thing that goes through your mind? Are you upset and blame yourself, or are you accepting of the mistakes you made?

All of us make mistakes. Sometimes we can be blamed for the things we’ve done, but they were honest mistakes.

How do you feel about the mistakes you’ve made? Do you berate yourself when you let others down?

On the flip side, how judging are you of other people’s mistakes?

While being hyper responsible, I know that I often judge my friends and family to the same high standards that I hold myself. That often causes tension in my relationships, and I’ve had to learn how to not only be easier on my family but also on myself.

I am going to make mistakes in life. So are you.

The challenge is how we handle the mistakes we make. Can we accept them and be easy on ourselves?

Berating and getting angry at ourselves won’t make a mistake go away, and it definitely won’t stop us from making other mistakes in the future.

When we make a mistake, I find it helpful to admit that I made a mistake, work to fix the issue (if I can), make amends with the people I’ve affected, and then let it go.

That last part is the tricky one.

If we hold a grudge against ourselves, we’ll not be doing anyone a favor. Drawing out the problem only makes things worse.

True self-acceptance takes time, practice, and love.

I am a big believer in using a journal to work through my feelings and help me deal with my problems. When I make a mistake, I can write down how I feel, what I want to do to fix the problem moving forward, but also to spend some time and energy on being easy on myself.

If we do not have our backs and support ourselves, who else will be there for us?

We can be our own worst enemies or friend. The choice is ours.

Every day, we have a choice to make.

What will you do today?


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