You do your best to be a better friend to your loved ones. You spend time with them, be happier for their successes than they are, encourage them when they’re low, advise them, and give them comfort or truth, depending on whatever is needed.

Different people show their love in different ways. Some give gifts, some prefer spending time together. Others show that they care by simply listening to  their friends.

But there’s one person you always forget about…

That’s you.

You always manage to make time for your friends and family but rarely take out time for yourself.

After all, the only person who has been with you since the beginning, and will stay till the end is YOU.

This is exactly why you need to be a better friend to yourself.

Others might come and go but you’re here to stay, you’re the only constant.

Moreover, you might expect a certain opinion from your friends and when their opinion isn’t aligned with yours, you feel really unsure of yourself (aka validation from others). This one’s from personal experience folks.

But you’re the only person who knows your own taste. You’re the one that needs to understand where you stand.

You can still ask for others’ opinions, but at the end of the day, what you think should be the deciding factor.

Here are a few of the countless ways you can be a better friend to yourself.

Celebrate your wins

You often downplay our achievements and make it seem like it wasn’t a big deal.

You don’t have to brag about it but patting yourself on the back does feel good.

You don’t have to go all out. Quietly congratulating yourself is also enough when you’ve achieved a goal or done something noteworthy.

Saying “Wow I did it!” is totally cool.

Push Yourself

Encourage yourself to do more and push the limits the same way you’d tell your friends.

Learn to trust yourself. Trust that you can do great things.

Try to get done a little more than you could yesterday.

Be Kind to Yourself

While you try to push yourself, you may not be successful always. At that time, forgive yourself.

Don’t beat yourself. Rather, focus on what you need to do right.

Being kind to yourself also includes all those things that you know you should be doing – exercising, eating right, sleeping on time, all that good stuff.

Spend time with yourself

Allocate time to process your thoughts. Consider how you felt through out the day, what made you happy, what could have you done better, what actually happened in the day.

We tend to live days without ever looking back at them.

One of the ways for me to process my day and thoughts is journaling.

Writing things down on paper allows me look at them with a third person perspective, without my bias.

Treat Yourself

Put a little extra effort to do something special for yourself.

It could be anything from eating something nice to buying yourself something you’ve wanted for a long time. (Keep in mind this is once in a while kinda thing, you don’t wanna be spoiling yourself)

Recap for memory

1. We try to be a better friend to others, but forget ourselves.
2. The only person who has been with you since the beginning, and will stay till the end is YOU.
3. You can be a better friend to yourself in many ways, including being kind and treating yourself.

P.S. It’s international friendship day, and since people already know the value of a good friend, I thought why not touch upon being there for yourself. Plus, it’s just something I needed to hear and it was good timing 🙂