The Journey of Self-Improvement and Self-Acceptance
You can only improve yourself if you fully accept yourself. But finding a balance between self-improvement and self-acceptance is the trickiest part.
“Dark Truth about Self-Improvement” TikTok Viral Sound
Yesterday, I was scrolling on TikTok and I found that TikTok viral sound with some motivational background video. It said,
“Here’s the dark truth about self-improvement that nobody talks about, You may become the best version of yourself, but as soon as you learn about what you should be doing, for example, I should be reading, I should be working out, I should be getting up early, It creates this mental checklist that if we don’t do everything on that list, You use it as ammunition that you then use against yourself. And that’s because the truth is that self-improvement alone doesn’t satisfy us. Self-improvement is only one part of the journey, the other half that is vital for growth is self-acceptance, accepting where you’re right now, accepting every small and big win, learning from our losses and enjoying the now.”
After seeing that, I started to question myself, am I doing wrong this whole time? And Yes, I’m!
My Journey of Self-improvement
Social Media Influence
Last 2 years, my life was such a mess. I’m doing nothing at all, just staying at my parents’ house and scrolling my phone all the time.
But it’s true that “WE ARE WHAT WE CONSUME”, not only food but the content on social media.
I like those self improvement content. Girls capture their beautiful life, working out, eating healthy, reading, studying. They look so productive. And I wanna be like them. That’s my first step of self-improvement.
Long List of Mental Checklist
I planned my whole day, wake up early, cold shower, read for 10pages, learn something new, study af, eat this food today, no sugar, and the list went on.
Yes, I see the improvement and changes in my mood, my life, and my productivity. It improves my self confidence and let me grow.
But days after days, I felt overwhelmed and I blamed myself so much for not completing a single task that’s on the list.
I gave myself too many tasks that I couldn’t accomplish in a day. I realized something is wrong. I’m improving but I don’t feel satisfaction and instead, I’m blaming myself.
It’s Not Just About Self-Improvement Alone!
I met people who are obsessed with self-improvement like me, and they felt the same way once in their journey.
Without self-acceptance, it’d be a toxic self-improvement. You’re trying to grow and grow. But the identity of you is holding you back.
You have to accept who you really are, good and bad.
You might be good at time management, but that doesn’t mean you will never procrastinate again. And you don’t have to blame yourself for this but accept it.
You’re trying to get up early but you’ve been getting up late for more than 5 years. You can’t blame yourself for not being able to do it but accept it.
In my case, I give myself too many tasks and my timetable is full of schedules without any relaxation. And I shouldn’t blame myself for not being able to accomplish all the tasks.
Instead, I should accept the fact that I can’t finish all these tasks in one day without having relaxation time.
We All Are Human
We’re not robots that can do all the hard work constantly without relaxing but with perfection if we program them correctly.
We are human! We have good days and bad days. We have good moods and bad moods. We have lazy days, procrastination, anger, sadness, and shortcomings.
We’re just the way we are and that’s enough. When you can’t finish a thing, it doesn’t make lower your worthiness of who you’re.
We have to accept the fact that we’re enough right now, just the way we are.
But that doesn’t mean you should stop improving yourself and accept the current version of you!
Accept and Improve
The point is you should accept who you’re, what you do, what’s your habits are (good and bad).
When you fully accept everything about you, there’s no resistance to change. You won’t blame yourself in your self-improvement journey because you were this version and you’re improving to that version.
And you accept the previous identity and it needs time and habit. You accept it. That’s what makes us feel better for our journey.
That’s what we’re missing! But now, I’ll let you think about how you’ve been doing these whole time.
I’ll talk more about self-improvement and self-acceptance in detail in the next blog. See you soon.
