Hey everyone, my first blog in a very long time and just like that were already in 2023!
2022 has probably been the most difficult year in life, grieving is a weird process but less on that for this blog, maybe one day when I build the courage with time I can blog on grief & loss. 2022 like any other difficult year has taught me a lot of lessons, brought to me growth and most of all realisations especially of how short life is and how important it is for us to make our time here worthwhile for ourselves and that’s why this year I intend to make the choices and practise habits which will only bring me joy, happiness, fulfilment and peace.
Selflove, it’s a word I have seen all over socials in the past years, everyone has their own perspective and individual opinions as well as definitions of self-love. I used to be one of those people who felt guilty if I expressed self-love, I felt doing so makes me a selfish person, as time has gone on, I have only come to an understanding that I had it completely twisted this entire time. Self-love is the most important & necessary habit to build in life. We only have one life and, on this journey, if we don’t love, accept, appreciate, respect and adore ourselves then why would we ever expect for others to serve us with these luxuries, practising this habit will prevent us from blaming others for the lack of our happiness as well as relying on them for the same, this will help you build healthy relationships with others and yourself to.
It’s never easy to build and form new habits and especially tough to maintain the discipline in them as we go on, someone once said to me that selflove is a habit that requires thought, action and then repeated action until it becomes an automatic way of thinking and behaving, so the ideal goal for me is to train my mind into making this a way of living & thinking.
How we express selflove and what works for us is completely up to us, we need to figure what works for us, what makes us feel happy and fulfilled, I have a few actions planned for myself:
Prioritise My Mental Health and Wellbeing
My life patterns, habits and actions all revolve around my state of my mind and my emotional status. I have learnt to understand myself better and figure what works and doesn’t work for me. I feel being more mentally and emotionally aware helps me breakthrough and understand myself more especially during my lows. Overtime I have realised this is the main factor that directly impacts my growth, habits are not easy to break even when you see how much they maybe harming you however this year this is a practise for me to work on. I am accepting my current mindset and gently and lovingly working on it to help myself be a more fulfilled person internally.
Learning that it is okay to say the N word (NO!)
Now this one has taken some time, I have tried to build this habit before, and it was broken however something tells me that I will ace it this year-round. I am learning to say NO without feeling guilty. My understanding from myself has been that I have found this difficult because I keep trying to please everyone and this society, doing this is not healthy for my internal self or the people that I may be doing this for because I will not be saying yes out of love and my energy towards the actions will be felt half-hearted and this may also have a negative impact on my mental health. The goal is to do more of what you love for yourself and learn to say yes only when your heart is in it. Do not worry about opinions and judgements, those who love you will always be the ones to understand.
Me Time
Anyone that knows me knows how great I am at finding me time, be it on solo trips or just grabbing a coffee and journaling or even getting lost in my books however it has been a difficult one to maintain this year so here is to be creating some more me time in 2023. I feel this practise helps me reflect on my habits, goals, emotions and feelings. It helps me analyse myself and build an understanding of what I need to do next to get closer to my goals or what hasn’t and has been working for me. It also helps me identify my strengths when I am with my own thoughts. The bonus is just loving your own company and you might be surprised how much peace & fulfilment this brings.
Giving and Receiving in Balance
Now this is one that I will not take any credit for, it was one of my best friends that brought this one to me. This year felt so exhausting as though it had taken every little piece of me out of me until I had come to a point where I had nothing left to give. She made me realise that if I just keep giving and always feel guilty for receiving or wanting then how can it ever work. Even our body gives carbon dioxide after it takes in oxygen! So, whether it is love, advice, strength, guidance, knowledge, favours ANYTHING just remind yourself that it is okay to accept and want these in return from someone somewhere, you’re not being demanding or needy you just want an equal balance, it’s only the way of the universe plus you don’t get what you don’t ask for.
So, these are just a few from my list, different things will always work for different people but just love, accept, respect and adore yourselves and start your journey towards a more happier and fulfilled you. Do the things that make YOU happy, spend more time with people that YOU enjoy being around because life is genuinely too short, don’t let it be too late till you realise. Heres to a 2023 dedicated to nobody but your own damn self!
HAPYY 2023 everyone, may this year bring you all the love, success, happiness, health and wealth in the world.
bhavikaodedra.com 