We all have an inner critic. And at times this inner critic can even be helpful and keep us on track when we’ve lost sight of our goals and the things that we should (or should not) be doing—like when our inner critic reminds us that we have a deadline coming up that we should be preparing for instead of watching Netflix, or when we’re procrastinating about doing something that really needs to get done. This inner critic can actually be helpful sometimes, in order to hold ourselves accountable, however, this inner critic can at times be more harmful than helpful, specifically when we begin to ruminate and fixate on negatively driven thought patterns. This is also known as negative self-talk, and it can be detrimental to both our mental and physical wellness.

We live in a world where we’re always told that we need to be better, skinnier, prettier, smarter, healthier, richer, kinder, harder, softer—all the “ers”, and it’s exhausting.

It’s exhausting trying to live up to all of these fabricated, unflawed versions of yourself when people don’t even know who you are to begin with. It’s exhausting having people tell you what you should value, what you should change, and who you should be when the only person you should be is you.

It’s hard to imagine that it’s almost been a year since the beginning of covid, lock downs, anxiety inducing solitude, and financial, emotional and physical distress…

But here we are. A year stronger, braver and more resilient than we were a year ago.

People often mistake taking time to yourself as narcissistic, unimportant and a waste of time; but self care isn’t just about self-help books, candlelit bubble baths and face masks. Self care is about taking the well needed time that you need to lift yourself up, praise yourself for how far you’ve come, and allowing yourself to breathe in, breathe out and just, be.

Self love isn’t a destination… it’s a journey. It’s the daily process of continuously showing up for ourselves to allow ourselves the opportunity to be better than we were the day before.