How To Be Your Own Best Friend | 11 Ways To Be Your Own Best Friend
How To Be Your Own Best Friend ? A best friend is someone you can celebrate important life events with and rely on in trying times. But mastering self-friendliness also means knowing when to follow your gut and look inward for solace when times are hard. Also find out our new article on Self love Tips For a Happy And Healthy Life.
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How To Be Your Own Best Friend ? Being your best friend can also help you get over feelings of inadequacy, loneliness and instability in your life. You can develop a positive and productive self-image, learn to consistently trust yourself and work on any issues or problems you may face by turning inward.
What Is Friendship? | How To Be Your Own Best Friend
Common interests or ideals or simply running into the same person every day on the commute can all lead to friendship. In addition to friendship we require a strong support network to make us feel less isolated in the world. Many popular conceptions of friendship dictate that a true friend is someone who is always there for you.
A true friend will always look out for you, never let you down or cause you emotional distress. Even though it’s lovely we still have to face the uncomfortable fact that friends are just human.
And we are all capable of being untrustworthy, egocentric and occasionally unaware of the needs of others. That lifelong friend however is that good friend you see every day in the mirror, the person you call “Me. ” It’s a fascinating charmer with whom you can build a wonderful relationship. .
Be Your Own Best Friend Meaning | How To Be Your Own Best Friend
A concept that highlights the value of self-love, self-care and self-compassion is to be your own best friend. It promotes treating oneself with the same consideration, tolerance and encouragement that one would show a close friend.
How To Be Your Own Best Friend starts with these essential elements:
1. Self-Caring
Having compassion for yourself in difficult situations is a sign of being your own best friend. Practice understanding and forgiveness rather than punishing yourself severely for errors or shortcomings. Acknowledge that mistakes are inevitable for everyone and that they present chances for improvement.
2. Talk to Yourself Positively
How To Be Your Own Best Friend? Use encouraging and uplifted language with yourself just as your closest friend would. Affirmations and helpful criticism can take the place of negative self-defeating thoughts. Expressing self-belief and encouragement to yourself can help you feel more capable.
3. Self-Sufficiency
Make taking care of your physical, emotional and mental health a priority. This entails getting adequate sleep, eating a balanced diet, working out and making time for enjoyable hobbies and relaxation.
4. Finding the Boundaries
Possess sufficient dignity to set appropriate boundaries. In relationships and interactions this entails making sure your needs are met, managing your time and energy wisely and knowing when to say no.
5. Honoring Accomplishments
Celebrate every small victory you have no matter how big. Take the time to acknowledge your accomplishments and efforts just as your closest friend would.
6. Acceptance of Oneself
Accept every aspect of who you are, flaws and all. Recognize that having imperfections is a part of being human and does not make you less valuable. Be pleased with who you are and recognize the uniqueness of who you are.
7. Assessing Your Needs
Keep an ear out for your needs and follow your inner guidance. You can pursue your passion, ask for assistance or take a break as long as you recognize and respect your own needs and desires.
How to Be Your Own Best Friend
With so many different approaches as there are people, how can you be your own best friend? It is true that each of us has unique needs and a variety of approaches to satisfying them.
Therefore each of us requires a different level of friendship, care and support. Due to this the first of these 11 strategies for How To Be Your Own Best Friend says:
1. Understand Who You Are: Developing Positive Self-Relationships
When you are about to make a friend the first thing you do is of course get to know them. Even though we all think we understand ourselves completely there are always some aspects of ourselves that are hidden from view. Our lives can be ruled by these hidden aspects of ourselves.
Psychoanalysts Newman and Berkowitz contend that we must have a thorough understanding of ourselves in their book How to Be Your Own Best Friend. It entails being aware of both our greatest potential and the most nuanced aspects of who we are.
2. Attend to Your Requirements
Good friendships make you happy according to a happiness study. It’s likely that you’ve heard (or ideally personally experienced) that happiness and wellbeing are directly correlated with supportive friendships.
Because they support you in meeting your needs, good friends are the explanation. You can rely on them for support both materially and emotionally. As such, consider your needs when considering how to be your own best friend. What exactly is it that you need? Do you need some rest, a pep talk or the hard but necessary truth? Are you hungry for emotional warmth?
3. Practice Self-Care
This is similar to the last point in that you go beyond inner talk to include various forms of self-kindness. Do you meditate? Are you pursuing your hobbies? Do you have enough of the things that bring you happiness? How are you taking care of your emotional needs? Are you assertive?
Do you have toxic people in your life? How will you handle them? If you saw your friend acting irresponsibly and putting their physical and mental health in danger you would speak up and compel them to change their behavior and get rid of the negative things in their lives.
How are you sleeping and eating? Are you overworked? How To Be Your Own Best Friend ? For this reason you should behave similarly toward yourself.
4. Verify the Reachability of Your Objectives
Instead of relying on other people to set your goals for you, set your own reasonable objectives. These goals can be as simple as tidying up after yourself and organizing your space or they can be more profound and challenging like applying for a desired new job or signing up for a public speaking course.
By putting yourself in a position to meet your expectations you can take control of what you expect from yourself and feel good when you achieve each goal. Ask yourself things like: Can I measure my goal? Is my goal specific? and Is my goal relevant to my desires and my life? to assess the degree of attainable goals.
Observe your objectives in a diary or journal. To strengthen your own acknowledgment of your accomplishments, end each progress log entry with a positive statement such as I approve of myself.
5. Taking Pleasure in Your Company: Step Outside of Your Comfort Zone
You can learn more about yourself by stepping outside of your comfort zone and altering your typical habits, environments and routines. Go somewhere or somewhere abroad on your own.
Traveling alone is an excellent way to experience living alone for a while and to put yourself in a position where you have to navigate a foreign environment. You will also need to develop strong independence, self-reliance and an open mind to the various viewpoints and behaviors of others.
If you’re not ready for a significant amount of alone time in a foreign country you can embrace change by limiting the distractions in your home and daily life or taking a quick solo stroll around your neighborhood. You can push yourself and learn more about yourself by making even tiny changes to your daily schedule.
6. Identify Regular Pursuits That You Enjoy Doing By Yourself
You’ll learn to appreciate and adjust to your solitude if you take up a solo pastime or activity. Fishing, knitting, surfing, writing , reading or even meditation are examples of solitary activities that can improve your self-awareness and give you valuable alone time. It will also assist you in developing self-love which is necessary in order to be your own best friend.
7. Set Yourself Up on a Date
Our social conditioning has taught us to enjoy each other’s company but not our own. It’s crucial to learn how to enjoy yourself on your own whether that means enjoying a movie and dinner or a beer and live music. You’ll positively enjoy your own company more after a date night out on your own.
You might notice that you focus more on the band or the movie or that you are more conscious of your own thoughts and viewpoints on the surroundings when there isn’t a person seated across from you. Try engaging in some daytime activities like window shopping, antiquing or sightseeing if you don’t want to go out on your own at night.
8. Never Forget to Look After Yourself
You are equally capable of giving yourself the extra attention and love that you get from a close friend. Get a thoughtful gift for yourself, buy yourself some flowers or schedule a relaxing massage. Random acts of kindness are a powerful way to express your love and value for yourself.
9. Give a Genuine Compliment to Yourself
In their ground-breaking 1974 book How to Be Your Own Best Friend psychologists Mildred Newman and Bernard Berkowitz discuss the significance of self-worth in the process of becoming a good friend to yourself.
They advise: “When you accomplish something you are proud of, celebrate yourself, give it some thought and fully absorb the moment. You are assuming control over your happiness by recognizing your value and developing an inner self-worth. You should look within and realize that you have worth and significance in the world rather than trying to fit your actions and decisions into someone else’s definition of success or power.
Don’t wait for approval from others before realizing your own value. Giving yourself compliments encourages you to concentrate on the good things rather than the bad parts of your day. Don’t talk badly to yourself, don’t put yourself down or call yourself names.
Don’t talk to yourself the same way you would a friend instead practice positive self-talk until it becomes second nature. For instance you could say I really like how my furniture looks now!. Humor is a great quality in a best friend so treat yourself with kindness and be mindful of the things you say, think and do.
Not taking yourself too seriously and being able to laugh at yourself in a constructive, healthy way are two benefits of being positive and encouraging to yourself.
10. Every day try to make your friendship better
As you grow your friendship with yourself it’s a good idea to keep track of your progress whether you record any changes or advancements in your relationship with yourself by writing down your ideas and difficulties in a diary or journal or if you make mental notes of your path to self-discovery.
Examine whether your feelings of autonomy value and self-love are influencing your relationships with others and assisting you in reaching your objectives. Think about whether you can now truly enjoy your alone time and whether your fear of being alone has decreased.
11. Enhance Your Understanding of Negative Thoughts
Determining whether the narrative you are telling yourself now is consistent with what a friend would say is the most crucial step. Is the self-talk I use positive or negative? While some friends may say something like That dress is not that cute on you we rarely have friends who tell us Why are you even bothering to get dressed up?
No one is going to talk to you at this party. How To Be Your Own Best Friend ? Negative thinking has an obstructive bent that results in low self-esteem and constructive actions. A genuine friend will tell it like it is in an effort to lift your spirits rather than bring you down.
How to Be your Own Best Friend Book
In conclusion, How To Be Your Own Best Friend ? Building a loving, caring and supportive relationship with oneself is the foundation of being your own best friend. It means giving yourself the same consideration and respect that you would give to a person you love very much.
How To Be Your Own Best Friend allows you to develop a foundation of inner strength and self-reliance that will help you face life’s obstacles with more resilience and assurance. You can genuinely thrive in a more balanced and contented life after engaging in this practice.
