Self-Reliance: Psychological Tactics for Independence

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Essentially, self-reliance means making decisions and taking action independently. While having a sense of independence is incredibly important, especially in adulthood, it’s important to maintain our social bonds because they’re helpful as well.

Now let’s dive into the principles of self-reliance:

- Self-Parenting

This psychological term means pinpointing your unmet needs during childhood and striving to cater to those desires to strike a therapeutic balance in adulthood.

For instance, if you lacked parental attention as a kid, you can give yourself the much-needed attention in adulthood to resolve the issues.

The concept of self-parenting is two-pronged. It involves:

1. Self-Criticism

In all honesty, I’m not a parent. However, I have observed my parents over the years, and in most cases, they were overly critical of my mistakes.

They’d rather demonstrate tough love than let me make terrible mistakes. Balanced criticism is important since it offers much in the way of change.

When you’re self-reliant psychologically, you shouldn’t be too defensive of your mistakes, and try rationalizing them. Embracing some considerable level of criticism is important in this sense.

The best self-criticism is best drawn from regret. Just like any responsible parent, don’t over-pamper yourself.

When you make mistakes, take responsibility and strive to work your way out of the situation with unerring might.

Just be sure to criticize yourself in a rational, balanced way to avoid getting overly negative.

I have been applying this principle to help cut down on my consumption of alcohol.

This technique of healthy self-criticism has gone to great lengths to help me reduce this toxic habit.

2. Self-Praise

Now, this is the best part. Who doesn’t love praise? I sure do.

This is where self-validation comes into play. You shouldn’t just wait for people to validate you — but instead, recognize and appreciate your good deeds.

So, aside from your regrettable faults, self-praise is a healthy technique to trigger self-respect and place you on a positive path.

You can pat yourself on the back for waking up an hour earlier and working on your side project before embarking on your usual activities.

Regardless though, it’s prudent to maintain balance and not exaggerate this.

You shouldn’t spoil yourself silly and lose the values required to maintain balance and sky-high maturity.

Ending Off

Independence and freedom are good-sounding terms. Despite this though, they require tremendous responsibility and maturity levels. That said, don’t hesitate to remember these thoughts while developing self-reliance.