Stop Beating Yourself Up! Why You Should Be Thankful For YOU This Thanksgiving

Think about it for a second…how long do you beat yourself up for a mistake or wrong decision? How long do you punish yourself for taking the wrong path?

Does getting down on yourself make things any better?

No.

It only fills your life with misery and frustration, maybe even bouts of depression. And while you’re punishing yourself emotionally, you’re missing out on new opportunities and experiences, and life’s greatest blessings.

Obsessing over a mistake is detrimental to your life and happiness. Time is short; life is precious. You can’t “fix” or undo the past by constantly reliving it; it steals your joy and floods your life with overwhelming feelings of sadness and regret, trapping you in a negative feedback loop.

For your health and happiness and peace of mind, please, stop beating yourself up.

Perhaps this Thanksgiving, especially this one after the year we’ve had, is the perfect time to appreciate your life, and to be thankful for what’s right with you instead of focusing on what’s wrong with you. Even if life is difficult and filled with disappointment, we can be thankful for our next breath because as long as there’s air in our lungs we have the chance to improve our lives and make our dreams come true.

Be Thankful For Your Imperfections

Newsflash: We humans are programmed to learn through trial and error and mistakes and failures.

Did someone give you an instruction manual when you were born? I didn’t think so. So does it make any sense to go through life expecting to get everything right? Of course not!

The best you can do is to strive to make the best decisions you can with the information you have at the moment. What more could anyone ask or expect? So when you make a mistake, and you will, it shouldn’t come as a surprise but rather as a gentle reminder that you’re human.

This Thanksgiving, let’s stop beating ourselves up for a minute and be thankful for our imperfections. Let’s be thankful for our strengths instead of focusing on our weaknesses! Let’s be thankful that we’re in charge of our focus and feelings. Let’s be grateful that we’re creative, innovative, and resourceful. We’re amazing, gifted, and blessed.

This Thanksgiving, let’s be a little more thankful for our mistakes because that’s when it seems we have our deepest insights and biggest breakthroughs.

Be Thankful For Your Mistakes

Failures and mistakes are essential to learning and growth. Everything you know and are good at, was learned through trial and error.

If you reach a point where you stop making mistakes, it’s probably a sign that you’ve stopped growing, learning, or risking. If you’re not stretched or challenged, you’ll stagnate.

Every mistake and failure is a chance to adjust, adapt, and to modify your behavior, beliefs, and actions. Every disappointment and failure, especially the ones that hurt the most, are a gift – a chance – for you to rise and face the pain and darkness with resolve, courage and the determination to make life better for yourself or others.

Be Thankful for Self-Forgiveness

You’re probably the type of person who’s quick to forgive other people when they make mistakes. So, why aren’t you quick to forgive yourself when you mess up?

Be thankful that you have the power and ability to forgive yourself right now.

Forgiving yourself releases you from pain and regret, and nurtures your relationship with yourself, creating a healthy mental and emotional environment. Forgiveness is one of the ways you can become a good friend to yourself.

Perhaps it’s time to stop beating yourself up, and to be thankful for your imperfections…to be thankful for the lessons you’re learning along the way that improve your life and make this world a better place. And, finally, to be grateful for the opportunity to forgive yourself so you can finally be free from the sadness of the past and the anxiety of the future, so you can start really living life once and for all.

Photo by Bart LaRue on Unsplash