Appreciate Your Achievements in the Kitchen, Training, Diet

I failed again… It didn’t work out… I can’t do it… That must be too difficult, I’m not made for it… I burned the pasta once again, I’m such a hopeless cook… I skipped the workout again, I’m a loser… I prepared dinner and everyone enjoyed it but it could have been better…

Now be frank and say how many times have you treated yourself that way? Do you happen to hear that you demand too much from yourself? How often have you been angry with yourself because of some small mistakes? Do you know this feeling?

Failures happen to everyone – it’s perfectly normal. After all, everybody knows that only those who do nothing make no mistakes. I also did not immediately succeed and often had to confront failure. But it is not about not making mistakes, because, as I said, it is simply impossible. The most important thing is the ability to draw conclusions and change your behavior accordingly, because it’s the only right path to… development. I had a similar situation with my culinary adventures. I have already written many times that at the beginning it was a challenge for me to cook pasta, but now I love to experiment in the kitchen and I hear from my loved ones that I’m really not bad at it 😉

You might wonder why I am writing all this. Well, I just want to encourage you not to be so critical about yourself, and switch to the mode of appreciating your achievements and progress. 

You think it’s easier said than done? It’s just an illusion! Read on and you’ll see it’s possible 🙂

 

Why should you appreciate yourself?

Focusing solely on our deficits and mistakes ultimately leads to a reduced sense of self-worth and a permanent sense of uncertainty in what we do. I wrote more about building confidence HERE.

 

What other benefits can you get from self-appreciation?

• Building a sense of your own self-efficacy – that is, a sense of competence and belief about your ability to achieve goals. Many studies have shown that people with a high sense of self-efficacy are far more likely to achieve success and make their dreams come true!
• Better mood and more energy every day – let’s be frank, constant dissatisfaction with yourself and criticizing your own actions leads to bad mood which can even lead to depression or chronic fatigue syndrome.
• More positive people around you – remember that similarities attract :). Your attitude to your own self has a big impact on how others relate to you. 

 

How to begin to appreciate yourself in 3 easy steps

 

• Take compliments 

When you hear something positive about yourself, neither should you deny it nor explain yourself! If you hear: “What a great and healthy dessert you’ve prepared!”, then instead of explaining how easy it was, just say… “Thanks” 🙂

 

• Start focusing on your strengths, not only deficits

Stop thinking what still needs to be done and what things you could have done better. Positive psychology says  that being aware of your own strengths is one of the crucial skills for maintaining a high quality of life. So, from now on, instead of thinking why you only exercise 3 days a week instead of 5, start to appreciate how much you’ve actually done so far.  

 

• Make small changes in what you say to yourself

What you say to yourself is important… really. That’s why sometimes the first step to self-appreciation is a simple change in what we say to ourselves and what we think.

 

Change:

• What did I fail to do?  to: What have I managed to do today?
• What am I doing wrong in my diet? to:  What am I doing right in my diet?
• What are the things I still can’t do? to:  What can I already do?
• What are the things I don’t like about myself? to:  What are some cool things about me?
• Why am I angry with myself? to:  What am I grateful for to myself?

 

Easy? 🙂

At the beginning, the switch of thinking may be a bit difficult, because we’ve been developing our beliefs our whole life. It’s really worth trying to improve yourself and to just take things easy in your everyday life.

 

And now hands up all of you who have already practised with me today 🙂 If you haven’t done it yet, think what other things you’ve done for your health and… APPRECIATE IT!

 

Bibliography:

1. Juczyński Z. Poczucie własnej skuteczności teoria i pomiar. Folia Psychologica 2000; 4: 11-24.
2. Czapiński J. (red). Psychologia pozytywna. Nauka o szczęściu, zdrowiu, sile i cnotach człowieka. Warszawa 2017, Wyd. PWN.