How to Go Easier On Yourself

From Self-Criticism to Self-Love

This was first posted on my original Substack, “What It’s All About”. Just in case it looks familiar, I promise it wasn’t plagiarized.

We all struggle with at times: being too hard on ourselves. I've personally never met anyone who isn't at one time or another harder on themselves than anyone else. Even with as much self-work that I've done over the years, I still frequently catch myself falling into this trap.

Most recently, while my life is truly better than ever, I've been struggling with all the things I'm not doing. Even while drafting this article, I'm also thinking about how I've been neglecting my Duolingo lessons. I have rushed through a lunch so that I can reply to emails (ew). Regardless of all that I have already accomplished in life, am involved in and currently working on, there's a part of me that believes I should be doing more; doing better.

Logically, I know this is nonsense. There is no one monitoring me. No one gauging my performance. No critics other than the one ins…