You are Enough – Ways to Achieve Self-Acceptance

“It’s not the mountain we conquer all our lives, it’s how we build ourselves.

People around, be it our family members, peers in school or our partners in romantic relationship, all of them impact our self-concept and how we perceive ourselves as individuals. Life is too small to go hunting for it, we need to stay still and create our true identity!

“Affirmative, validating and nurturing – positive self-concept. “

Inaction breeds fear and doubt. Action sets in courage and confidence. Now if you want to conquer fear, sitting at home is not an option. Get going, get busy and make the best out of your potential.

“Critical, dismissive, harmful – negative self-concept.”

Remember, it’s not what you are that holds you back, it’s what you think! Your thoughts say it all. When we say that ‘it is the thought that counts’ and when it’s filled with fatalistic opinions, then everything seems like a mirage. Where life is a coaster, you might have spent several years feeling as though you aren’t worthy of being happy. However, it is very important to realize that ‘you are what you believe’, once this is done, a sense of self-acceptance rolls in along with freedom and happiness.

PARENTS; CHILD’S SELF-CONCEPT

A child’s self-concept begins to develop from the moment they enter the world. This is the time where parents play a key role to their development. The kids who experience low self-esteem have gone through crummy parenting styles. If significant people in your life repeatedly tell you that you are not good enough, demanded more from you when you have tried your best or treated you in ways that have left you feeling peripheral.

Developing a healthy self-starts at home; children need love with certain conditions. They need nurturing, attention and boundaries with reliable care. In absence of these qualities, further as they grow up and face puzzling circumstances, they will automatically tend to believe that they are not worthy of love.

For reasons the parent couldn’t give love that you deserved – the issue fabricated within them. It’s high time to stop taking responsibility for other’s behavior and work towards accepting your real self- you are enough the way you are!

Let us together work towards self-acceptance:

1.     Challenge the Inner Voice: Notice whose voice is demotivating you. Is it your own? Or have you come to believe it from someone else? The message it delivers might have been adapted from what you were told as a child or during your relationships. The thought process might change once you truly open up to yourself and understand the voice demotivating you is giving you false information.

2.     Interacting Compassionately: When we are more compassionate while communicating, this fosters a tender mindset. When our perception of our self is seen through compassionate eyes, self-acceptance flatters easy. 

3.     Make Sure to Practice Self-Care: Allow yourself to meet your daily needs. This will help to value yourself more and give a boost to self-acceptance.

4.     Be Selfless: Feed a hungry street dog, help the blind woman cross the road, hold the door for an old couple, make dinner for your roommate when you know she is having a hard day, smile at a stranger. These are small gestures which can mean a lot to the living being standing in front of you. When you give, it builds a positive self-concept and even others benefit a great deal.

5.     Make a Dear Diary: There are 24 hours in a day, take out time to write down at least one thing that has made you happy in the past week, past one month or even the very same day. This shall encourage you to focus on the magical voice within you and give your self-esteem the power to accept yourself.

6.     Make Mistakes: No living being on this planet is perfect. Haven’t you seen your friends make bad decisions all the time? Haven’t you helped them through all of it? Try all the thoughts in your head; when a diversion appears, take the road less travelled by, if that doesn’t work come back and try the other road but, never sit all alone in yellow woods thinking you made a mistake. Have the courage to correct that mistake by standing up and accepting the blunder and further moving on. Keep reminding yourself of how beautiful and worthy you are.

Self-acceptance doesn’t come easy, the ride to fulfill the requirement goes high to low and vice-versa, similar to the fastest roller-coaster but, nothing worth having comes easy. Put the energy in peddle and commit to your personal growth; value yourself because you are enough just the way you are.