It’s important to take care of your mental health. The last couple of years have been difficult for everyone thanks to the pandemic, cost-of-living crisis, and current political landscape. That, coupled with individual past experiences and traumatic issues, can cause emotional and psychological damage that may require professional help to understand.

It’s time for you to come to terms with who you are. If you are interested in self-acceptance, you will need to find professional support to help you start your journey.

Why do I need to learn self-acceptance?

Whether you seek individual therapy or are interested in looking into the services from an online platform such as A Room In Town, learning to accept yourself for who you are can be extremely difficult. We are all individuals with flaws and quirks. Sometimes it can be hard for us to accept the good and bad parts of our personalities. But that’s where self-acceptance can come into play.

Self-acceptance is different from self-esteem. Self-esteem is where you feel confident about your abilities. Self-acceptance is essentially holding up a mirror to who you are as a person. You accept the good and bad parts of yourself. To feel truly confident in yourself, you need to learn self-acceptance.

Why is it hard to learn self-acceptance?

Honestly, it can be very difficult to accept ourselves for who we are. From the time we are born, we are raised to see the world in a certain light. The people who raised us can leave us with different views about what is good and bad. Therefore, if the people we love find things about us more difficult to manage, you may find that as you get older you start to see qualities of yourself as negative.

You may also struggle to accept yourself if:

  • You suffer from imposter syndrome
  • You have experienced traumatic events in your past
  • You have experienced harmful behaviours that had consequences
  • You did not experience a lot of diversity, inclusion and equality where you lived

If those we love around us cannot accept who we are, why should we accept ourselves? No matter what type of experiences you have been through, our past experiences shape us into who we are today. But that does not mean you can’t rebuild yourself and start your journey into self-acceptance in the present.

How to start your journey of self-acceptance?

Starting off your journey of self-acceptance is not easy. In fact, it’s quite a daunting thing to take on by yourself. This is why we would recommend that you work with professional help, such as a therapist.

As you speak to your therapist, it’s important that you open up about your experiences and your past. The more you come to terms with your past, the more likely it is that you will start to understand who you are and why you react in certain ways. Then, when you are ready, you can finally forgive yourself for your negative behaviours.

Being unique and mindful

The more you speak to your therapist, the easier it will be to start being a bit more compassionate towards yourself. You are unique. Therefore, you should celebrate what makes you different. Your therapist can help you build up your self-esteem. If you couple this with self-acceptance, you will find yourself becoming more confident in who you are.

So, while you let your therapist work on your self-esteem, it’s time for you to be mindful about who you are and what you want. This includes setting boundaries, accepting things you cannot change and being mindful of your wants and desires. Treat yourself like you would treat a friend. If they do not want to do something, you would not push them into it. That’s why you should do the same thing for yourself.

You can also:

  • Set realistic goals to achieve
  • Understand your strengths and accomplishments
  • Let go of your inner critic
  • Foster friendships that appreciate you for who you are

 

Self-acceptance can be difficult to achieve on your own. If you need help understanding who you are as a person, you shouldn’t take the journey on your own. Instead, you should look into professional help. Your therapist will always be there to support you.

 

  

Guest blogger

Our guest post blogspot features a wide and diverse range of guests who have written one-off blogs about different aspects of health and fitness. If you are interested in featuring on our guest blogspot, please contact us.