Live and let live. It seems like the most obvious thing but it’s also the hardest. When you see other people, you can’t help but judge them based on what they’re wearing or how they’re acting. Then, you think they’re also judging you the same way. It’s a hard cycle to break, but if people collectively worked hard to do it, it’s achievable.
There’s an even more important change you need to work on: stop judging yourself.
Your Worst Enemy
Self-doubt creeps up on you easily if you don’t actively remind yourself that you deserve better. No one wakes up knowing they’re doing well. This is something you need to tell yourself regularly. However, you might be doing the opposite if you judge yourself based on every failure. Everyone falls down. Every parent needs a timeout from rowdy children. Every homeowner in Concord, New Hampshire calls for help when it comes to air duct cleaning. Every child needs a teacher to explain a difficult lesson to them. Some need more help than others, but this doesn’t mean they are a failure. If you judge yourself for being a normal person who has failures and accomplishments, you don’t realize your worth and you will always live in doubt.
Your Biggest Critic
When you were a child, you barely had any choice when it came to your outfits. Parents dressed you up however they pleased. When you became a teenager, you learned to exercise a bit of freedom, but you weren’t financially independent enough to buy clothes that fit you perfectly. Now that you’re an adult, you can buy the clothes you want, but the problem is you don’t consider yourself worthy of them. You think you have a muffin top or that you don’t have the perfect legs to show off. It’s important to change this mindset because the way you look at yourself determines how others treat you. If you don’t feel beautiful and capable, other people will think poorly of you as well.
Be Your Best Friend Instead
Negativity is so common around you that it becomes the default. Without doing anything, you’re letting negative thoughts and behaviors prevail. In the long run, it turns you into a cynical and insecure person, and that’s someone who cannot help themselves and other people be better. Start to actively thank yourself for everything you’re doing, and don’t look for validation from other people. Live and let live. Do what will make you feel good, and let other people do the same with their life. If you spend more time building yourself up instead of judging other people and tearing yourself apart, you’ll see all the good parts of your life that you’ve been neglecting all along. It’s not too late to change; do it before your insecurities hurt the people you love.
You owe it to yourself to focus on your positive qualities instead of constantly thinking about your failures. There is a lesson in everything you experience, but when you’re too busy bringing yourself down, you’re not learning to be good to yourself.