You Can Feel Better Today
Improve How You Feel Today No Matter What Your Circumstances
Too many people go through life feeling that they aren’t good enough or being afraid to reach for a goal they think is impossible to attain. Feelings of not being good enough or worthy of having a satisfying life frequently are developed in childhood, especially if you grew up in a dysfunctional or abusive home.
If you find yourself wanting more from life, but not being sure what to do because of your circumstances that cause you to feel anxious, depressed, or stressed, the good news is that you can start to feel better about yourself and generate more hope for a better life – today.
It’s easy to believe we will feel better if external circumstances change. If I get into a relationship. If I can get a better paying job. If people appreciate me more. The list goes on.
What would you say if I told you that you could start to feel better about yourself even if your external circumstances don’t change? Would you believe me? If you are like many of the clients I work with, chances are you wouldn’t believe me at all.
Here is a Powerful Tool that I Know Works
The Self-Care Inventory is an easy-to-use tool that can help you identify areas in your life you can improve so that you can feel better today.
Rate yourself on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being the lowest score and 10 being the highest, on the following self-care categories. You can use whatever time period you want from rating yourself today or perhaps rating yourself over the past month.
If you can’t decide which of two scores to give yourself, use the highest score. Remember, this is a subjective scale, so you get to determine what you think your level of self-care is. Resist the urge to interpret a low score negatively. The Self-Care Inventory is designed to help inspire you to take better care of yourself and not beat yourself up.
For each of the six categories, rate your level of self-care for whatever time frame you wish. How you chose to define what adequate self-care means to you is up to you. Some typical examples are provided to help inspire your thinking, but you need to define what self-care actually means to you.
- Sleep: This can include getting a certain number of hours of sleep, going to bed at a certain time, avoiding caffeine before bedtime, getting a full night sleep
- Healthy Eating: This can include eating breakfast, reducing sugar intake, eating fewer calories, avoiding junk food, eating at home, trying new recipes
- Exercise: This can include going to a gym certain times a week, running, riding a bike, using home exercise equipment
- Fun/Creative Activities: Creative writing, music, needle work, drawing, photography
- Connected to Positive, Supportive People that Care About You: Quality if more important that quantity, so they may or may not be family members, but it is important that they care about you and support you in taking care of yourself
- Meaning and Purpose in Life: Reading inspirational books, meditating, praying, going to church, volunteering
Take Action Today, Even if it is Only a Small Step Forward
Finally, the key is to identify any specific area or areas that you think could use some improvement and then take action today to increase your level of self-care. If your overall self-care has been low, there is no need to overdo it as going from one extreme to another is not sustainable. Start off with making small manageable improvements and build on your successes. You will find that once you take even the smallest step forward that you will feel better about yourself and more hopeful for the future.
Want to learn more about the Self-Care Inventory and how you can start to feel better today?