Starting the Process of Personal Growth: Self Work Tips
Hi, Welcome to my blog. This blog is all about helping you find and love your true self in order to grow to your fullest potential. I hope you're feeling absolutely wonderful today. And in case you're not, then let me remind you that you have the power to turn any situation into a positive lesson. And for that, I'm proud of you.
Today, we are talking about how you can work on yourself so you lead the happiest, most vibrant life. I am a completely different person today, as compared to who I was five or even two years ago. People who meet me today who haven't met me for a while really see how I've changed. I'm glowing, I'm happy and it's not because my style has changed. Although it has and not because my hair has changed. Although I've colored my hair multiple times over the years. It is actually because my inner self, my mind, my thoughts, how I talk to myself have all changed. It's grown and taken a completely new shape. Where there used to be doubts, fears, insecurities, struggles, there is now confidence, love growth and a vibrant life. Yes, there are still a lot of setbacks. I cry a lot, even now. But now I have the ability to bounce back from them faster and stronger.
You know, there are times when even I'm surprised how well I've handled the traumatic situation. And it's all been because of the self work, the inner work that I've been doing over the last two years. You see, this wasn't the work of magic. Although it does seem nothing less than that. This is all been possible because of the self work. Am I perfect now? No, of course not. But am I the best version of myself that I have ever been? Hell yes. Do you want to be your best self and lead a happy and a successful life? I know you do. And the answer to all of that is self work.
But what exactly is self work? How do you get started with it? What does it mean? Self work is giving yourself the time and the resources that you need to grow. Self work is putting in the effort and the energy to know yourself and to invest in improving every aspect of your life. Self work is growth. Let me give you a small reminder, which is very important. There's only one of you and like all of us, you only have this one life. N o one else is going to make you a better person. No one else is going to give you a better life. It's all up to you. It's all in your hands.
And you know the truth is that over the years or the way we've been brought up, we've all been programmed to dull our shine. Take a moment and think about this; If you were truly free 100% Confident 100% true to yourself today, how different would this day look like? All this conditioning, all this programming has left us not doing the inner work, not doing the self work. Self work or focusing on yourself, investing in yourself is often seen as selfish by the society. But it's not. Because if you grow those around you grow too. Whatever you want in life; happiness, peace, success, financial growth, love or even stability, the answer to all of that is self improvement. And improvement doesn't happen without self work.
Self work can be different for different people. Of course, we've all been brought up differently, we've all had different life experiences. So the work we do on ourselves also looks very different. However, in order to help you figure out how to get started, or how to level up in your journey of self work, I've compiled a few points and exercises that will help you know and work on yourself better. But here's a big disclaimer for you. Before we get started, this won't work if you're not 100%, honest to yourself. I want you to be completely honest and completely vulnerable, without any judgement to yourself. This is your personal journey. Only when you do this, you will grow only when you do this, you will improve. So stop judging yourself and be completely honest with yourself.
So the first step in starting your self work journey is identifying the areas in your life that need the work. For this, I want you to take 15 to 20 minutes out, sit in a room where you know, you won't be disturbed for a while and take a pen and paper and put it in front of you. Take a few deep breaths, calm your mind, and then begin to make a list. Make a list of areas in your life that need the work. It could be your diet, your career, your relationships, your self esteem, the way you talk to yourself, the way you feel around people, the way you talk to other people, dig deep and write it all down. Once you have a list, the next step is to go even deeper. Try to figure out why these things that you've listed, need work, why they're falling short. Maybe you're holding on to the past, maybe you have some strong core beliefs about yourself that are limiting you, maybe you need to work on your ego, maybe you need to work on your perspective, maybe there are some traumatic incidents in your past that you're still not out of.
So this is the time when you identify areas in your life that need work and I want you to figure out why do they need work? Why is it that you're not you're holding back yourself in those areas and not being 100%? What is the core cause for discomfort in this area or in these areas? Here's another reminder for you, when you start to identify the areas that need work, you're going to be tempted to be rude to yourself, to be unkind and to judge yourself. Unkind thoughts might spring up in your head. But I want you to know that this is not about where you lack or where you fall short. This is about what you want to invite into your life and manifest for the better. It's about you consciously choosing yourself. It's about you consciously choosing to lead a life that is happier, healthier, and wealthier.
Now the next thing is, and this is only if you wish to dig deeper or take this exercise to the next level. You need to speak to people who are close to you. Sometimes other people see things in us that we don't see in ourselves. And just to demonstrate this for you for this blog, I asked some of my closest friends to tell me what they think of me and what they think I need to work on. And two things popped up in all the people I spoke to. And these things were common, even though those people don't know each other, just know me.
The first thing they pointed out was that my self belief is not very strong. Believing in myself that I have the potential to succeed beyond my goals is something that I need to work on. And the second thing they pointed out was consistency. They feel and it's probably true that I lack consistency in doing the things over and over again that will actually elevate my life. So you see what I listed out for myself was slightly different from what my people pointed out. And I trust them and it gave me a much better perspective into what I need to do for my self work. So, reach out to people and make sure you speak openly and honestly. Listen with the intent of doing the self work, and don't go there to justify what they point out. Take it as something that you actually need to work on and try to think of ways that you can work on the things that they pointed out for you. Add it to your list. And let's get to the next step.
The final step before you actually build out a routine for yourself, of self work, is to start reading. Whether it's blogs, or articles or books; read up on the problem areas. It is so important to know what you're dealing with, what you're tackling with, rather than charging in blind. Reading every day or reading often and, things that you want to work on, will actually help you identify things that you may not have in the past, identify ways that you may not know of yet to do better self work.
Based on these things, or these activities I just outlined, you will have to build your own personal self work routine. Now, that's the beauty of self work. It's personal, what works for me might not work for you. What works for you may not work for me. It's a tailor made action plan, you will build for yourself for better awareness, growth and acceptance. We all have problem areas, or dark corners. Never judge, hate or be unkind to yourself for a specific flaw. Instead, work on the activities that I've listed out, identify the problem areas and build a plan for yourself that you can follow every day or every week to improve these areas.
Self work is working on yourself actively, intentionally and with kindness. I want you to remember that self work is an ongoing process. It evolves as we grow older, it evolves with our experiences. It is personal work that will lead to a better life and that will last a lifetime, as we face changes and challenges; within and without. I really hope you choose yourself every day and work on yourself with kindness. I hope everything I talked about today resonated with you and will bring a positive change in your life.
This brings us to the end of this blogpost. I would love to hear your thoughts about self work and growth. Please reach out to me on Instagram at @theayushimathur, let’s help each other feel strong and in control. Do send this blogpost link to someone you think will benefit from this. Let’s reach out to more and more people and help them lead better lives.