4 Self-Compassion Practices to Help You Give Yourself a Break

BY VANESSA JAHNKE

Self-compassion: a muscle I had to learn to flex during these past few months of unprecedented times. What an abnormal moment in time we’ve gone through and continue to go through; so many feelings of being overwhelmed, frustrated, fearful, and confused for all of us as we learn to navigate the new normal. These four practices helped me to “give myself a break” over the last few months:

VANESSA JAHNKE Vanessa is the founder of PURE Gym & Juicery in Penticton, BC. She is a certified holistic health coach with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and the creator of Healthy for Life, a monthly online wellness subscription. Her blog is loaded with healthy, easy to make recipes and easy to implement tools to achieve a happier, healthier life.

1

Scheduling Moments to Practice Self-Care

Self-care means something different for everyone. For some it means taking a bath, for some it means meditation, for others it’s cooking, or maybe it’s colouring. Regardless of what it is, prioritizing and intentionally scheduling time to do whatever it is that grounds you is of the utmost importance. Self-care is one of the most important things you can do for not only yourself but for those around you.

2

Celebrate Your Wins

Celebrating your wins is another way of practicing gratitude. It’s highlighting all the positive things that happened that day, that week, or that month. Start by writing or saying three things each night that went well that day. These can be as simple as you went for a walk, made a healthy breakfast, and called a friend. Whatever it is that made you feel good that day.

3

Acknowledge Your Emotions

The past few months stirred up a lot of emotions for people, and oftentimes we can be very hard on ourselves for feeling an array of feelings. We all process feelings and situations differently— go easy on yourself. My rule of thumb is to always acknowledge the feeling, honour it, feel it, and let it pass. It’s when we sit in that feeling for too long, that we can go into a negative thought pattern and let it overpower us. Feel it and let it go.

4

Don’t Compare Your Productivity to Others

There are no rules written in the stars that say you have to do anything more than the bare minimum while navigating a global pandemic. If you used these past months to learn a new language, learn a new skill, take a course, build a greenhouse, or whatever it is, that’s awesome! But also remember, if you took this time to just chill and simply focus on your health and well-being, that’s also equally as awesome.

Give yourself a gentle pass when it comes to productivity and don’t compare yourself to others.

While there is so much going on around us that is out of our control, one tool in our tool belt is the practice of self-compassion and learning to give ourselves a break. We are all doing the best we can with the resources at hand in each given moment, and when you remember that, you can’t help but practice kindness and compassion to yourself and to others.