We’re always thanking our friends and family for their support and the incredible things they do for us but we sometimes forget that we should thank ourselves as well for the things we go through and how at certain times we make it completely on our own. Here are some of the things you should thank yourself for:
1. For trying to be a better person. Thank yourself for trying to be a better friend, or a better partner or better to your parents. Thank yourself for going out of your way to help someone. Thank yourself for going the extra mile for a friend who truly needed your support.
2. For not giving up. During your finals, during stressful work weeks and during difficult times. Thank yourself for pulling yourself together and enduring the anxiety and the pain that you had to go through. Thank yourself for making it out of the storm in one piece.
3. For taking care of yourself. Thank yourself for trying to take care of yourself first before you can take care of others. Thank yourself for the times you had to focus on yourself and did a great job. Thank yourself for understanding that you have to always work on yourself because this is the person you will truly live with forever.
4. For trying to achieve your dreams even if they didn’t happen yet. Thank yourself for trying to go to school again, for trying to ask for a raise, for trying to look for another job, for trying to move to a new country. Thank yourself for the awareness you have that you need to dream bigger and do better.
5. For letting someone you loved go. Thank yourself for letting them be, for moving on even when it was hard, for trying to forget them when you didn’t want to and for doing your best not to contact them when it was all you ever wanted. Thank yourself for protecting your own heart.
6. For the moments of weakness. Thank yourself for giving yourself permission to eat that cheeseburger or skip the gym for a few weeks. Thank yourself for telling someone how you truly felt. Thank yourself for knowing that you are not perfect but there are perfect moments where you just have to be unapologetically you.
7. For making mistakes. Thank yourself for the decisions that were not so great, it means you’re learning, it means you’re evolving and it means you’re growing wiser and stronger. Thank yourself for not allowing your mistakes to define you.
8. For your kindness. Thank yourself for doing something selflessly, for giving something without expecting anything in return, for sharing your experiences or stories with people who could benefit from it and for being kind to yourself when the world is being hard on you.
9. For embracing the chaos of life. Thank yourself for keeping a smile on your face when you’re sad, for waking up and participating in life when you feel the weight of the world crashing down on you, for going out when all you want to do is stay home and for believing that things will get better even though you’re not sure. Thank yourself for trying to live your life – no matter how unpredictable and messy it can be.
10. For all the things you do that make you proud. For the little things and the big things. For the things that make you happy and the things that make you look forward to tomorrow. For the beautiful things you do that go unnoticed, for the sincere prayers you say to the ones you love, for the compromises you make, for the risky chances you take and for the silly things you do to make people smile. Thank yourself for any moment that made you grateful to be alive and made you love yourself a little bit more.