Society is now more open to conversations about mental health. Thus, we can finally discuss how important taking care of our mental health is. The emphasis on seeking medical intervention to address mental health issues has made it simpler for patients to recover from their mental health conditions.
Society’s understanding of mental health-related issues is vital in cultivating someone’s compassion for mental wellness. To learn more about the importance of self-compassion for mental illness, continue reading this blog.
Understanding Self-Compassion
Self-compassion is supporting and encouraging ourselves whenever we encounter failures and mistakes in life. While it’s hard to be kind to ourselves during these times, it’s essential that we turn compassion inward and not become harshly critical of ourselves.
You can think of what a good friend would do to support you in these times and try to become an empathetic friend to yourself.
Mindfulness
Practicing a balanced approach to our negative emotions is essential in achieving self-compassion. We should be ready to observe our negative emotions and thoughts with clarity and openness, making it easier for us to acknowledge our situation without suppressing, exaggerating, or invalidating our emotions.
Practical Strategies to Cultivate Self-Compassion
To help you cultivate self-compassion, below are practical strategies you can read and follow:
Practice self-care
Being kind to ourselves entails nurturing our physical and emotional well-being. There are a lot of things you can do to practice self-care. For some, pampering themselves with a massage or an early morning jog can be helpful to them. Others would also engage in physical fitness activities to keep themselves busy, making it a healthy distraction from the stress of life. Of course, you can also reward yourself with your favorite food to get a dose of self-compassion through your taste buds.
Additionally, for long-term self-care, securing the best health insurance for young adults is another crucial aspect of taking care of oneself, ensuring access to quality healthcare and protection from unforeseen medical expenses.
The Components of Self-Compassion
Self-compassion has different components. To know more about them, read our list below:
Self-kindness
We should acknowledge that becoming perfect at everything isn’t the end goal of everything we do. If we encounter setbacks, failures, mistakes, and other life difficulties, it would be easier for us to remain kind to ourselves instead of blaming and criticizing ourselves because of the frustrations and stress we experience.
Common humanity
We can only give ourselves compassion if we recognize that personal inadequacy and suffering is shared human experience. This means that we all go through moments of failures and mistakes because we are all human, vulnerable, imperfect, and mortal.
Self-awareness
We should identify self-critical thoughts, especially those that repetitively bug us every time we experience setbacks in life caused by our own actions and decisions. We need to be aware of these thoughts and refrain from overthinking them.
Non-judgmental awareness, or mindfulness, can help you find a compassionate inner voice so that you won’t get trapped in a cycle of unsolicited self-criticism.
Compassionate self-talk
Think of how you would treat someone dear to you and replicate this treatment to yourself. Be a friend to yourself and allow yourself to process the pain without taking the blame.
You can tap yourself on the shoulder like a sincere friend would. This gesture enables the body to release oxytocin, one of the happy hormones.
Overcoming Obstacles to Self-Compassion
Self-compassion only means treating ourselves with loving feelings so we can bring about emotional healing. However, sometimes, we think being self-compassionate is selfish and egotistical.
To know more about the obstacles to self-compassion, continue reading the list below:
Self-judgment and perfectionism
Because we get caught up in our insatiable thirst for perfection, we tend to judge ourselves based on the negative results that we get out of our decisions and actions in life. However, this isn’t healthy if we aim to give ourselves compassion.
Fear of self-indulgence and laziness
When we practice self-care, like going out for a coffee or buying ourselves something nice after experiencing failure could lead to feeling overly self-indulgent. However, it’s important to note that self-care is key to achieving genuine self-compassion.
Cultivating self-compassion in the face of failure and setbacks
When we experience failures and setbacks, we should sometimes instruct ourselves to do better next time and never repeat the same process that led to the negative experience. However, we sometimes get too focused on teaching ourselves and reflecting on our mistakes instead of being kind to ourselves, allowing for healthy recovery and healing.
Conclusion
Self-compassion positively impacts our mental wellness. It plays a vital part in fostering personal growth and resilience. Moreover, when we become more self-compassionate, we also inspire others to be kind to themselves, spreading positivity and mental wellness.
Start with small steps by following the practical strategies to cultivate self-compassion. Besides this, acknowledge the obstacles to self-compassion and find your way out of these challenges.
