Take It Easy on Yourself!

by Edward B. Toupin

Everyone's life is their own making and, as such, they have developed their own belief system, have their own expectations, and carry around their own baggage. With all of this, there is no way that any one person can accurately compare themselves to another person and expect to obtain a reasonable result.

Stop comparing yourself to others as everyone is different. Stop diminishing yourself with negative judgments by always finding that you are less than anyone else in any particular way. We're not more or less --- we're all just different.

When you make a mistake or don’t progress the way you’d like, it’s easy to give up or to tell yourself that you can’t do it. During times of personal change and growth, it’s important to take it easy on yourself and treat yourself with care and respect. It’s important to give yourself an extra little push sometimes, but not through personal mental <i>beatings</i>.

Remind yourself of what your strengths are. Review your values and motivations for creating the goal in the first place. Look back at all your successes and tell yourself that it may take some time, but you can do it. However, the only way you’ll achieve any goal is to do it!

Lighten up! If you take yourself too seriously as you carry out your goals, you’ll have no fun pursuing them and everyone around you will be overly cautious of you and your actions. Manage your expectations and keep them realistic! Instead of trying to conquer the world in one shot, break it up and just conquer your own little piece of it first. Then, once you have control, expand your reach a bit. By keeping your goals small and incremental, mixed with a light-hearted perspective, you will be able to get through the challenges to reach your ultimate Vision.

See Also:

Where are You Headed?
Do you have a road map for where you are going? This road map might be better called your life purpose. It is contained in your vision for your life.

Happiness: the Ultimate Egoism?
Isn’t everybody ultimately striving for happiness? And doesn’t happiness have as many faces as there are people in the world? Isn’t happiness tailored to what we expect from life?

Let Yourself Grow a Little
If you're not yet the person you want to be, can you be patient as you grow? Even the mightiest tree began as a frail seed. Will you merely go through life? Or will you GROW through life?

Keeping an Attitude of Gratitude
When was the last time you stopped to acknowledge all the good things in your life? Very often, when we're focused on a 'big' goal, or just caught up in day-to-day living, we often forget about the things that bring us joy.

Copyright (c) 2004 Edward B. Toupin