A study conducted by Onepoll on behalf of Vida Health showed that 62% of participants said they usually feel depressed at this time of the year, while 32% stated that this time is always the worst season for their mental health.
However, February is also known as the month of love. It is a reminder of the importance of love and compassion towards others, as well as thinking of yourself. Negative self-judgments can impair job performance and increase stress. On the other hand, self-compassion, treating oneself in a way that reflects support during work challenges, and accepting personal weaknesses and career obstacles are all powerful tools for career advancement.
Obstacles to self-love
Self-criticism and feelings of hatred create obstacles to career advancement that we might not be aware of. We learned that self-love indicates selfishness or narcissism, and that self-sacrifice is a virtue.
If you're like most workers, you have a critical inner voice that tells you that you're worthless, self-centered, or unqualified. This voice won't stop speaking. It takes over your thoughts more than the voice that tells you the potential you really have.
As a result, you will not love yourself as much as you love others, you will hold yourself accountable for the smallest mistakes, and you will not believe in yourself enough. This will make you give up on your goals, and use harsh words- like “stop feeling sorry for yourself” or “there are people worse than you”- when you are sad or in pain, which might exacerbate your distress.
During the 1990s, comedians parodied the idea of self-love and self-compassion with nonsensical phrases like "I'm smart enough" or "I'm good enough."
Not condemning oneself
By denying self-love, many workers find more comfort in torturing themselves for their mistakes and weaknesses. The common belief is that if we give ourselves free rein, it can turn us into lazy people. Treating oneself negatively is likely to enhance performance and improve our functionality, but this is not entirely true.
Punishing yourself harshly after some missteps is like refusing help from firefighters when your house is on fire. It only makes things worse and reduces your chances of success and prosperity in the end.
When you're faced with a career hurdle, such as missing a promotion, failing to meet an important deadline, or losing a job, self-judgment is the real obstacle, not the hurdle itself. In addition, replacing kindness with judgment motivates you to do things you've stopped doing.
When you stop condemning yourself and empathize, you can see the real obstacle more clearly, and you feel more comfortable dealing with it. If you do not love yourself, you will not have the motivation to accomplish a lot of things, and you might be more inclined towards self-sabotage at work. However, when you deal with anything positively, you will be able to achieve success.
The science of self-love
Neuroscientists have discovered a direct relationship between self-compassion, resilience, and success. You are likely to enjoy welfare and success when you have self-compassion.
Studies show that self-love and compliments enhance cognitive perception, which allows us to talk to ourselves the way we talk to others, so that the inner voice that speaks to us to evaluate us is not the only voice we hear. As a result, self-love can boost our mood, job performance, and achievement.
Studies conducted by the University of Wisconsin show that the more compassion you have with yourself, the more you love yourself. Researchers have also discovered that compassion meditation changes the brain, affecting areas of the brain that make you more empathetic towards others. Positive emotions- like kindness and compassion -can also be developed the same way you learn to play an instrument or play a sport.
Furthermore, radiography revealed that the neural networks in the brain that detect emotions changed dramatically in people who heavily practiced compassion meditation.
Other studies show that expressing compassion has far-reaching effects on your personal and professional life. When you acquire the habit of talking to yourself with words that reflect love, you change the way your brain works at the present time. Furthermore, forgiving yourself for past mistakes, such as procrastination, helps you avoid procrastination in the future, for example.
How to practice self-love?
The first step in practicing self-love is to love yourself. If you don't love yourself, who will love you? In times of stress and hardship, talking to yourself about your pain and fears with compassion in a calm, relaxed tone will help you adapt.
Watch how often you berate yourself, call yourself inappropriate names, or feel ashamed of yourself. Face impossible standards and harsh judgments instead of attacking yourself. Forgive yourself for your weaknesses and see them for what they are, whether they are habits, old behavior patterns, or just simple mistakes we might all make.
When you love yourself more and accept your limits and abilities with compassion, you are only dealing with a stressful experience, not with negative feelings resulting from judgments that you make against yourself. The more you empathize with yourself, the more you empathize with others. The best remedy is to talk to yourself in an enthusiastic way and use positive compliments.
You should feel admiration for yourself every time you finish a project or achieve a successful step or goal at work. Whether you are dealing with small troubles or major crises, supporting yourself reduces stress and provides calmness and clarity to enhance accepting career obstacles. Therefore, give yourself the gift of self-love on Valentine's Day this year and express your love to others.
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