There is a fine line between self-discipline, challenging yourself to improve, and being overly self-critical. It’s important to practice self-love and to make sure you aren’t so hard on yourself in order to maintain good mental health.
For self-love:
Be Gentle
Speak to yourself as you would to a four-year-old child who just made a mistake. We tend to think that for our improvement, we need to be strict. Even though this is good in some scenarios, you also need to show yourself love and compassion. You need to start being more aware of how you are speaking to yourself in your mind. Avoid inner dialogue that focuses on bringing you down. Try speaking to yourself about a problematic situation as you would to a little child; it will motivate you to talk kindly to yourself and to stay calm.
Focus on Your Strengths and Embrace Your Weaknesses
Many of us have this unrealistic belief that we can only truly love ourselves when we have conquered all of the things we are bad at. You don’t need to be perfect to love yourself. It’s okay to have weaknesses. Once you stop shaming yourself for not being perfect and stop hiding the parts of you that aren’t outstanding, you will feel much more in touch with yourself.
Learn to Accept Compliments
Think about what your initial reaction is when people compliment you. Many of us have a habit of negating the kind words from other people and focusing on the criticism that we hear. Write in your journal the nice things people have said about you. Words are powerful and can be uplifting and healing. This practice will help you immensely on your journey to self-love. When you feel upset, refer back to the journal as a reminder.
Move on From Your Mistakes
One of the ways we are hard on ourselves is that we are constantly reminding ourselves of the mistakes we made in the past. This can keep you from moving forward and can make you feel unworthy of the success and happiness that you are looking for. Therefore, you need to forgive yourself for past mistakes and trust yourself to make wiser decisions in the future.