We can be so hard on ourselves. Oh, I shouldn’t have eaten that. Oh, I shouldn’t have said that. Oh, I should be further along in my career. Oh, I haven’t saved enough money. On and on and on. We conquer one demon, here comes another one.

Some of the things we say to ourselves, the way we speak to ourselves, we’d be absolutely furious if we heard someone talking to a loved one like that. And we would NEVER speak to someone else that way.

Why is it okay for us to speak to ourselves that way?

Now, self-evaluation can be a really good thing. It can help us figure out changes we need to make in order to achieve our dreams. We can look at what works and what doesn’t and set our goals, make our plans. All that is awesome.

But the way we beat ourselves up with words? It doesn’t help. In fact, it’s really harmful.

I wrote these affirmations to help me remember to be a little kinder to myself.