Feeling of self-doubt is not uncommon, especially in today's times where we are overexposed to other's well-curated version of life on social media. This makes us feel that we are not good enough. We tend to look back and realize that we made some mistakes. Sometimes we face a series of failures even after our best efforts. Many times we are exploited by others for being too nice. This all makes our self-esteem go down, also, many times we are too harsh and unforgiving to ourselves compared to others. We know that we have made some mistakes and need to improve on a few things to have better control of our lives, but we hesitate to accept our weaknesses and mistakes because self-acceptance doesn't come that easy. It is not easy to accept that we have weaknesses, because if we do, then the next step is to work to improve on those weaknesses. Also, for many, accepting our own flaws dents their perception of themselves. Therefore, self-acceptance doesn't come that easy. We believe that if we accept we are not good enough, then we put a hindrance in our own progress. We are made to believe that self-acceptance and self-improvement are mutually exclusive, but they are not. Rather, unless you go through the process of self-acceptance, you cannot self-improve.
Self-acceptance is embracing our flaws, and recognizing that we are not good enough today. Self-acceptance is accepting our mistakes and weaknesses today so that we can start working on them and improve tomorrow. This helps us to get a reality check and figure out our blind spots that lead to those weaknesses and mistakes. Whereas self-improvement is about working to overcome our weaknesses, learning from our mistakes, and moving on. Knowing that we are not good enough today should not hinder our desire to be better tomorrow. Rather, it is necessary to go through this cycle of self-acceptance and self-improvement regularly if we strive to be better humans. Without self-acceptance, there is no self-improvement. Self-acceptance is not a surrender to our flaws of today, it is not a validation that our flaws are permanent, but it is a recognition that some work is needed today so that we can be better prepared for tomorrow.
People who listen to all seld-improvement talks, and videos, or read self-improvement books try to copy or follow someone's recipes for self-improvement without realizing that humans are mentally complex animals and without deep self-analysis, no method or recipe is going to work for us in the long term. We may see some short-term benefits but unless we have self-analyzed and determined what areas we need to work on, nothing is going to help. A right prescription for a wrong diagnosis is still the wrong treatment. Therefore, self-acceptance of our own drawbacks is the first step towards self-improvement. There is still a long way to go, but as a society, we at least started discussing topics like mental and emotional health. There is professional help available in the form of counseling or wellness experts. These things were never discussed just a few years back. We should make use of these resources to initiate our journey towards self-improvement.
No two humans are mentally the same, we all face different mental and emotional challenges, that is why we cannot base our own psychological well-being based only on someone's experiences and opinions. We need to do self-analysis to understand who we are and what are our weaknesses. This process is an ongoing process as we not only grow physically as we age we also grow emotionally and mentally. As we age our body and our mind also changes. As our body needs care and nourishment the same is true for our mind. Going through the cycles of self-acceptance and self-improvement is important for our professional and personal lives. Remember, today may suck, we may commit mistakes, and we may fail miserably, but one mistake, one failure, one bad day, or one bad month doesn't define our life or personality. It is in our hands to learn from all our experiences, good and bad, and work towards a better tomorrow.
Thank you for reading and please share your views on this topic.
© Vinay Thakur, All rights reserved, Vinay can be reached at thevinay2022@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment