5 Ways to Improve Your Relationship with Yourself

I want to talk about 5 ways to improve your relationship with yourself. It’s so important to take care of ourselves, especially when we’re trying to figure out what we want and need. Self-care may seem cliche now, all bubble baths and sappy self-love. But it’s so much more than that to me. And self-care has been a really important step for me on my journey of self-discovery. Here are 6 things that I’ve done to improve my relationship with myself. And I hope they help you too!

1. Go on a date with yourself

One of the best self-care practices is to spend time with yourself. One way I do this is by going on “dates” with myself, a self-love practice that I learned from my therapist in college after a bad breakup.

2. Be kinder than necessary (to both others and yourself!)

One of the things I do to be kinder to myself is to talk to myself the same way I talk to a friend. One thing I do to be kinder to other people is to listen more than I talk(without interrupting).

This one seems silly, but I will just actually smile and that tricks my brain into being happy. If that’s not enough I will ask myself “what’s good here?” when I am feeling stressed, anxious or just down. It helps me find my way back to a place of being calm.

3. Give back/volunteer your skills and talents

A self-care practice that I’ve found helpful for both my mental and physical health is to find a way to give back. Whether it be volunteering your time or skills, you can help others while taking care of yourself at the same time! My two favorite ways to give back are to mentor other photographers and to do volunteer clean ups.

4. Give yourself space from other people when you need it.

I spend a lot of time with other people. I love being social, and chatting to new friends can be really enjoyable for me most days. But I am an introvert. Even though I love hanging out with other people I need to be alone in order to recharge. I know that and make sure to take time for just myself.

5. Get enough sleep every night (7-8 hours) so you feel refreshed the next morning.One of the things that’s hardest for me is getting off of my phone. So to get enough sleep I intentionally set my phone across the room or even in the other room. If you have an iPhone you can also set time limits on apps and set the do not disturb setting to kick on at a certain time.
6. Go to Therapy 

Seriously, if you can make it happen then make it happen. I know it can be expensive so you can always try to see someone who is still doing their clinical hours which will be much less expensive and they’re be supervised by someone who has lots of experience!