Ways To Be Kind To Yourself

Some thoughts on being more supportive of ourselves

Ways To Be Kind To Yourself

Take a deep breath and then another / lower your shoulders / unclench your jaw / let your stomach relax / change into soft clothes / breathe /

Go outside / find a garden, a trail, a place surrounded by trees or grasses / look for flowers, bees, butterflies, birds—anything alive / take time to notice every detail / breathe /

Find water / run your hands under the faucet / draw a hot bath / step into a steaming shower / sit near a shallow creek / a pond / a riverbank / a quiet lake / the ocean / listen / breathe / 

Find a wall / lay down and elevate your feet against it / place your hands on your heart, your stomach, your face—whatever feels right / feel your heart beat slow / feel your body relax / breathe / 

Say no / say yes / say I need more time / say how you feel / name what is hard, confusing, terrifying / find someone who will listen / say what you need / ask for help / receive it / breathe / 

Turn off your phone or silence it—all the alerts, banners, beeps / read words of hope before bed and again in the morning / find ways to get more rest and quiet / eat something your body needs / drink water / breathe / 

This list could be miles long, but these are some practices that help me when I feel stressed, distracted, or overwhelmed. Life can feel so intense sometimes and my default is to push through and busy myself with the seemingly endless demands I feel. The older I get though, the harder this is to sustain, and I am learning that pushing through and ignoring the feelings that surface actually makes moving through my days harder. When I try to act like everything is good, even as life feels overwhelming, I become disconnected from myself and God.

If you relate to this in anyway, I encourage you to make your own list of what being kind to yourself looks like. I find so much comfort in finding reflections of our shared humanity throughout the bible, especially in the Psalms. I also love reading anything by Aundi Kolber or Brené Brown. A few of my favorites are, Try Softer, Take What You Need, The Gifts of Imperfection, and Daring Greatly.

“Both overwhelm and disconnect, in a sense, make us less ourselves. Yet the answer isn’t to vilify our emotions or our humanity. Instead, we must learn to move through our emotions—to tolerate them but also learn to take breaks when needed.” - Aundi Kolber, Take What You Need

I am taking a break from sharing new writing here the rest of the summer, but I plan to be back in September. Thank you, as always, for giving me a supportive place to share my writing!

Love,