Short messages on Positive change from Respect Yourself, the guidance site for young people to help make good decisions in life.
When you’re at your busiest, a short break can rejuvenate your mind and increase your productivity. These breaks will help you regain your sanity and reflect on your recent actions so you can be sure they’re in line with your goals.
Start being attentive to your stress level and take short breaks. Slow down. Breathe. Give yourself permission to pause, regroup and move forward with clarity and purpose.
Take a little time every day to clear your thoughts, and it will be a lot easier to tame the fear-based voice that makes you feel bad about yourself.
You may not catch every self-critical thought, but with practise over time you’ll catch more and more, and the progress will add up.
Once you identify a limiting belief – such as “I’m not lovable” – you can start to change it by looking for evidence to support the opposite belief.
It’s not rude or unreasonable to ask for, or give, basic respect. People should treat you and your boundaries with some level of respect, just as you should treat them with the same.
If you feel yourself getting overwhelmed by a situation, step back and realise this feeling isn’t permanent – nothing is. Then focus on action steps – on the things you can control. What can you do today to proactively create a solution?
A lot of the drama in our life takes place in our own heads, usually because we’re too deeply immersed in a difficult situation to recognise it isn’t as dire as it seems.
You may see small mistakes as evidence that you’re unworthy. You may interpret your challenges as proof that you’re incompetent. Neither of these things are true, and you don’t have to believe them.
Byron Katie said “It’s not your job to like me. It’s mine.” There’s a difference between depending on people for support and depending on them for self-esteem.