We have heard the talk about self-love and self-compassion, but it is one thing to read the articles and “say” that we are all about loving ourselves, it is quite another thing to actually tackle the issue and work on truly getting to a place where we forgive ourselves, have compassion for ourselves and love ourselves. As single parents who may be struggling with other issues, this can be a big task to tackle.
When I decided to start working on my self-love, I realized that it was going to be a big project. After all, the more mishaps, mistakes and misjudgments in a person’s life, the more likely we are to beat ourselves up about it! I also realized that this learning how to love myself was going to have to go beyond the simple self-affirmations and positive strokes. After all, it is easy to say positive things about myself when things are going well; it is those little negative self-conscious snipings that get in the way of true self acceptance.
In order to love ourselves, we have to figure out how to love and appreciate not only the good parts of ourselves, but those flaws and imperfections as well. Learning how to love our scars, mistakes and mishaps is where the real challenge begins and ends, but this is so important if we are going to get to a place where we are compassionate and comfortable with ourselves.
The time we spend as single parents can be a very good time to work on these personal growth projects—after all, we do not have someone else in our lives whose opinion can get in the way of our learning to love ourselves. We do not have that “other” voice detracting from the opportunity we have to create a new, positive and loving way of seeing ourselves.
See Also: Liking What You See in the Mirror