13 Things to Start Doing for Yourself
Many people put their dreams (and happiness) on hold for another day, or until “the time is right,” but the truth is, life is happening to us now. Don’t wait another day to start doing things that make your life better. Here’s a little help to get you going:
Start being honest with yourself about where you are and what you truly want. You may not be exactly where you want to be today, but that’s not to say you won’t get there. Be honest about what’s worked in the past, what hasn’t and what you need to do now to move forward. Don’t judge yourself for not being further along and don’t compare yourself to others. Figure out what you need to do now to achieve your goals, and get started today. Every small step is a step forward.
Start doing what makes you happy. Start noticing when you feel good and when you don’t. Become aware of which things wear you down and which things lift you up. Stop doing things just because you “should” and start doing more of what truly makes you happy (without feeling guilty).
Start nurturing your relationships. Begin by taking a close look at your relationships to see which ones need to be rejuvenated, repaired, or released. Let go of the relationships that are no longer serving you. Put your energy and attention toward the relationships that you want to grow. Nurture those relationships by giving them the time and attention they need to thrive.
Start believing in yourself. Sure, it’s easy to beat yourself up and to criticize yourself. People do it all the time. You may believe you’re pushing yourself to be better by focusing on what isn’t working. But rather than expending your energy on the negative, why not put that energy toward all you do desire to become? Start believing you can do whatever you set your mind to. Start believing you will reach your goals. Don’t wait for anyone else to believe in you, BELIEVE IN YOURSELF and start today!
Start loving who you are. First off, who you are is AMAZING! You are beautiful and wonderful EXACTLY as you are. You don’t need to be any different to be valuable and lovable. Your value comes from within, not from what you do or don’t do, how you look, how much money you make, what other people think of you, or anything outside of yourself. You don’t need a special reason to love yourself. Start loving who you are “just because”.
Start listening to your inner voice. Sometimes what seems like your inner voice may actually be your ego. Or it may be your partner’s, friend’s or parent’s voice. Push those voices aside and learn to listen to your inner voice. The voice that you know has your best interest at heart. The voice that loves you and wants to guide you along your best path. When you hear your true inner voice, don’t question it; just listen. And learn.
Start spending quiet time alone. We all need time alone to reflect, refocus and recharge. We need time to sit in silence and just “be”. We need time to truly listen to our thoughts, to hear our inner voice, and to become centered. When you start spending quiet time alone on a daily basis, you will begin to feel a newfound sense of peace.
Start facing your problems head-on. You may have a tendency to push your problems aside and pretend they don’t exist, but don’t kid yourself, that won’t make them disappear. Sure you may not want to deal with hard or uncomfortable things, but not facing your problems head-on only creates more problems! The faster you address and deal with the difficult issues at hand, the sooner you can work through them, move on and grow from the lessons learned.
Start forgiving and letting go of the past. It’s easy to hold on to resentments and past hurts when you feel like you’ve been wronged. Whatever those wrongs were, they are over now…done. What good does it do to hold onto those things any longer? Process and deal with what you need to deal with, forgive where need be, then shut the door on those situations and move on…in peace. Don’t waste another moment giving any energy to something you’ve put behind you.
Start enjoying the things you already have. It’s so easy in today’s world to always want more. We see people on the daily with new cars, new clothes, new houses, new everything and the tendency is to think we need more too. But we don’t. Most of us have what we need but we forget to enjoy those things because we are too busy focusing on what we don’t have. Take a moment to take stock of all that you have, give thanks, and appreciate those things in a new way.
De-clutter your surroundings. Make it a point to only hold on to things that truly bring you joy. Go through everything you own. Every. Thing. Touch each item. Feel each item. Does that item bring you joy? If not, throw it out, donate it or sell it. The point is to feel good about every thing you own. If an item doesn’t bring you joy, it’s just taking up valuable mental and physical space that could be used for something better.
Start giving more. The more you give the more you will receive. That should never be anyone’s motivation to give, but it is the law of the universe. What you put out comes back to you, so make sure what you’re putting out is positive. Going out of your way to do something for someone else, especially when it is unexpected, will always give you greater joy than receiving.
Start being grateful every day. There is ALWAYS something to be grateful for. Even when times seem bleak, if you look around, you can surely find something to be happy about and thankful for. You get what you focus on, so train yourself to focus on the positive. Make it a habit to wake up each morning giving thanks, and to go to sleep every night being grateful for all that is. These small acts alone will change your life.