We’re living in a world today where ‘high-pressure’ and ‘high-stress’ environments are becoming the norm. Hard work has somehow become synonymous with pressure; if you’re not feeling stressed, you’re not working hard enough. Whether it’s relationship pressure or work pressure, societal pressure or family pressure, or even just stress from all the uncertainty surrounding the current global pandemic; it’s time to take a break. At some point, every person needs to take a step back and self-assess where we’re at; ask ourselves how we’re doing. We need to learn to go easy on ourselves. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean picking the ‘easy’ option, but rather going easy on ourselves with the decisions that we do make. Not allowing ourselves to feel like we came short of picking the wrong option. We need to learn to silence that inner critic.
You can start treating yourself by simply treating yourself better. Remind yourself of who you are and what you’ve accomplished, take a moment to appreciate your strengths and qualities that got you to where you are today. Follow a passion. It’s easy to get caught up in everything going on around us, but sometimes you need to put yourself first. Set aside some time, either every day, week or month (depending on what your passion is) for you to just reconnect with yourself, and remind yourself “I’m doing this for me.” Look after yourself. Studies have shown the effects of physical health on mental health. This doesn’t mean go and run a marathon next week, but by prioritizing some physical activities in your weekly routine, you’ll soon notice the effect it has on your mental health. It’s not just physical health that has an effect, almost everything we physically do affects us mentally.
Getty Images/DigitalVision/Todd Pearson
Why not treat yourself to something you normally wouldn’t? Like that pair of shoes you’ve been eyeing up for a while, or a nice afternoon tea by yourself. Remember that passion we talked about following? Treat yourself to something that will help you pursue it – be it a new set of paints or even horse riding classes. How about taking a day off work and treating yourself to a spa day, or better yet, a pajama day watching TV… during the week! No matter what you choose, life is hard, and you deserve to treat yourself once in a while.