I’ve been climbing the walls lately! 😳
For lots of reasons in all fairness, but on a literal level, because I go bouldering🧗♀️.
Bouldering is one of the things I do to challenge myself, to take me out of my comfort zone 🫣. And let me tell you, it works 😲. Sometimes I am jubilant in my adrenalin-spiked successes 🥳, while more often than not, I’m defeated by holds that don’t seem to hold me and reaches that seem beyond my reach 🫠.
What’s been interesting is to observe is how I react to those defeats 🧐. Primarily, I would NEVER speak to anyone else in the way that I speak to myself in my mind. I have a loud and vicious inner voice that loves to berate me for not being good enough👹.
Conversely, I only admire the fear, hesitance and defeat in others 😍. I see them trying again, giving up, contemplating different ways, recognising their limitations, gaining insights to improve, learning incrementally, seeking support, and being supported by more skilled climbers who so graciously pass on their knowledge. And yet I am unable to extend that same grace to myself 🤷♀️.
This realisation has helped me to recognise that my well-travelled journey with self-criticism is not yet over and that I need to continue to work on being kinder and more forgiving to myself when I fail ❤️🩹.
💡Being kinder to ourselves when we fail can have a significant impact on our ability to manage stress and anger.
Being quick to judge ourselves harshly or blame ourselves for our perceived failures or shortcomings exacerbates #stress and #anger as it leads to a vicious cycle of negative thoughts and emotions ♾️. Practicing #self-compassion and being kinder to ourselves breaks this cycle.
So, I’m looking forward to #REFRAMING my failures and shortcomings. Instead of ‘you’ll never be able to do that’, I’ll try ‘this is what it feels like to practise something challenging’, and instead of ‘that’s way too hard’, I’ll try ‘this is what it feels like to make progress’.