There is much written about the importance of relationships, especially those with others. From birth we start building relationships with our parents and carers, siblings and wider family. This carries on through childhood, building relationships at school with friends and teachers and as we venture out into the adult world for the first time, for many of us, the thing that gets us through the difficult firsts are the relationship with our friends.
At work we learn about the various relationships with our colleagues, our boss, the wider organization and beyond.
We know that being connected to others is good for our mental health. It’s one of the Five Ways to Wellbeing but arguably the most important relationship we have is with ourselves and we need to nurture it. As we go through life’s ups and downs our relationship with ourself will be tested and challenged so work as hard at looking after the relationship with yourself as you do the other relationships you have. When you feel good about yourself it complements every other relationship you have. It creates a sense of stability and ultimately leads to long term happiness.
The relationship you have with yourself sets the tone for all the other relationships you have.
Every individual will be on their own journey, building a relationship with themselves. Very few, if any of us will believe we’ve got it sorted. So what can you do to help that relationship along? Here are a few ideas:
Practise physical self care – take a break, get enough sleep, eat a balanced diet, hydrate well, exercise and anything else you know you need to look after yourself.
Create good habits that serve you well – how you plan and organize your time can have a massive impact on what and how much you achieve.
Be kind to yourself – accept you’re human and you will make mistakes. Hold a sense of perspective when things don’t go as you’d planned.
Talk kindly to and about yourself – if you’re saying things to yourself about yourself that you wouldn’t say about or to your best friend, stop! Rephrase and reframe.
Trust yourself – trusting yourself can help build up your confidence, make it easier for you to make decisions, and reduce your stress levels.
Appreciate yourself – take time each day to reflect on what you’ve achieved that day, no matter how small it may feel at the time.
Practice gratitude – not just for the big things but for the things we often take for granted. As you wake up each morning say thank you to your beating heart.
If you need help, and many of us do, coaching can offer an opportunity for reflection and help:
- uncover and reframe self limiting beliefs
- create clarity about our values and what’s really important to us
- create confidence in our strengths and abilities
- enable us to have a sense of focus for our next steps
You’ve spent time working on your relationships with others isn’t it about time you spent time consciously working on your relationship with yourself?
If you’re interested in finding out how coaching can be of benefit The Thrive Team can help. We are an executive search and organisational wellbeing company with a signature approach to hiring leaders and helping them and their teams to flourish.
Our search, coaching and training programmes combine to provide the only organisational wellbeing service we know of that aims to deliver high performance, stability and happiness throughout an organisation.
