Be Your Own Best Friend
My Grandma turns 99 this weekend which is an amazing milestone! It got me thinking about all the things she’s gone through in her life and has endured and celebrated through the years. And as much as she has had a lot of support from the people around her on her journey, at the end of the day she is the one that has been with herself through it all. This got me thinking about the importance of being our own best friend.
When you think of your best friend, who do you think of? It’s likely another person. Why is that? Why don’t we jump at the chance to embrace ourselves as our own best friend?
After all, at the end of the day, in the middle of the hard things we go through, and at the end of our life, the person that is ALWAYS with us – is ourselves.
Now don’t get me wrong. I think friendship and connection and support from others is CRITICAL. We need people in our lives that love us and help us in times of need and have adventures with us and share experiences together. But…when all is said and done, we need ourselves first.
We need to rely on ourselves first. We need to love ourselves first. We need to accept ourselves first. We need to have our own backs first. We need to understand ourselves first. We need to be our own best friend first.
Watch the video above for ideas on how to be a better friend to yourself.
Here are the highlights:
Give yourself permission to feel your emotions, thoughts and feelings
Give yourself a hug or place your hands over your heart at least once a day to remember that you’re there for yourself
Make intentional time for yourself without distractions
Take yourself out on a date for dinner, an art show or a movie
Write down five things you love about yourself
Ask yourself what your close friends would say are your best traits
Look back at the past week and write down your accomplishments, successes and things you’re proud of (big and small)
Bring yourself back to your childhood and recall what you used to love to do by yourself
Remember your greatest hurdle or challenge you’ve overcome to remind yourself of your strength, determination and resilience (you pulled yourself up then and you can do it again)
Give advice to yourself in the third person as you would to a friend
Treat yourself to little gifts or pampering - it’s more than self-care; it’s a reminder to your heart that you’re special and deserve to be treated well
Tell yourself “I love you” everyday — it’s okay to talk to yourself!
Be loving and compassionate with yourself — you’re doing the best you can, you’re learning, you’re growing and you’re evolving and that can be messy, sticky, uncomfortable, scary and hard. You’re likely to mess up, fall down and do something that maybe doesn’t go quite as planned. That’s okay! Be gentle, kind and loving to yourself no matter what.
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Learning how to be our own best friend starts with minimizing self doubt and increasing self confidence through getting clarity on what is most important to us. This is what I help my clients achieve and I can help you too. Book a Discovery Call today to learn more.