Self-compassion doesn’t necessarily come easily to a lot of people.
And it’s even harder to find when you’re going through a tough transition in life. That’s because change itself is hard. Difficult life transitions can leave you feeling tired, depressed, and worried.
Those factors make it easy for negative thinking and negative self-talk to completely take over. As a result, the transition becomes more difficult, and your self-esteem and self-compassion start to tank.
But being kind to yourself can actually be a big help during these tough life transitions. By showing yourself compassion, you can find freedom. And thus, you won’t hold yourself back from the possibilities this new change offers.
So, how exactly can being more self-compassionate help you through a tough transition in your life?
It Breaks the Cycle
No matter what big life change you’re going through, negative thinking often wants to take control. Unfortunately, negative self-talk doesn’t usually just happen one time—it’s cyclical.
When you start feeling a lack of compassion toward yourself, you may start to pity yourself. You’ll think you don’t deserve compassion from anyone else—including yourself.
The reality is, everyone deserves compassion and sometimes it has to start with self-compassion. It doesn’t matter what caused this change in your life. What does matter is showing kindness to yourself to break the cycle of negative self-talk. When you start to show more self-compassion, you’re more likely to move forward in a positive direction to this new area of life.
It Can Change How Others See You
When you’re more compassionate with yourself, it shows. It allows you to open yourself up to others, too, which can foster new and healthy relationships and strengthen existing ones. As stated before, people who aren’t kind to themselves often think that they don’t deserve compassion. Some might even think they aren’t deserving of love. But when you change that mindset, you can start to let others in. Having that kind of support will continue to boost your self-esteem and your self-compassion.
How Can You Cultivate More Self-Compassion?
One of the best ways to be more compassionate with yourself is to think about someone who already is compassionate with you. Is it a family member? A friend? Someone from a support group?
Think about some of the things that the person says to you. Do they use particular phrases when speaking with you, or do they have a soft and comforting tone? It can help to write down some of these things so you can better understand how they see you, even if you don’t see it yourself.
You can also think about someone to whom you’re compassionate. Do you have a friend you’re always boosting up? Are you always there for them in their time of need?
If you know you can be compassionate to others, it’s time to take a look at being self-compassionate too. You can’t ignore your own mental health and emotional needs while you care for others. Eventually, you’ll burn out and your self-compassion will continue to dwindle.
If you want to be the best version of yourself in order to help others, you have to start by being kind to yourself.
Self-compassion isn’t always easy. Many of us are our own worst enemies. Instead of treating ourselves with the compassion that we would treat a friend, we add to our misery. If you’re going through a tough life transition and you’re having a hard time showing kindness to yourself, please feel free to contact me.
Together, we can work on different ways you can cultivate more self-compassion. As a result, you can not only get through the difficult transition easier, but you can become excited about your new life chapter.
