Nothing is worse than looking in the mirror and not liking who stares back. Want to know how to feel better about yourself? Change from the inside out.
There is nothing worse than not feeling good about who you are. Whether it is that you think you make poor decisions, you aren’t empathetic enough, or you just aren’t the person you want to be, the good news is there is a way for how to feel better about yourself.
How to feel better about yourself – Little steps that make a big difference
The only person who can change you is you. And, change doesn’t occur overnight. We are all creatures of habit and most of the time we do things simply out of routine or by doing what is easiest.
Creating change is not an easy thing to do. It takes commitment, desire, and persistence. If you make a goal, define who you want to be and live mindfully, then the way for how to feel better about yourself is attainable.
#1 Know what better looks like. It is a nice thought to say you want to feel better about yourself, but what does that mean? What will it take for you to think you are a better person?
Defining why you don’t think you aren’t the best you, is the only road to being the person you want and feeling better about yourself. [Read: 18 ways to have high self-esteem and start winning at life]
#2 Practice the behaviors needed to get there. If you want to feel better about yourself, then it is about making the right choices and being proud of who you are and your accomplishments. Practicing good behaviors ensures that you will make the right decisions that lead to feeling better about who you are.
#3 Don’t slide back into old habits. It is always easier to do things that feel comfortable and are easy. Sometimes we feel bad about ourselves because we don’t like certain things that we do that come naturally.
If you don’t feel good about yourself because you dominate a conversation, then practice taking turns and giving someone else the floor. Once you override those things about yourself that you don’t like, feeling better about yourself happens naturally. [Read: 18 bad habits that’ll make anyone want to leave you for good]
#4 Check yourself. If you want to feel better about yourself, it takes continually checking who you are and what you believe yourself to be. That means defining who you are and who you want to be, not just once, but throughout your lifetime.
You are going to have to make alterations at every age and stage to be the person you want to be. So, evaluating is going to be a big part of feeling better about yourself. [Read: Sabotaging your happiness: 12 ways you can ruin your life]
#5 Define incremental goals to get where you want to be. If you set goals and make them, then you are bound to feel better about yourself. If you don’t have any goals in place, it is difficult to feel like you are progressing and moving forward.
If you want to meet your standards, it might take achieving small goals. But, with each new achievement, you get closer to being the person you want to be.
#6 Stop letting other people tell you who you are. Sometimes who we are is just fine, but we allow others to make us feel bad about ourselves. If you let other people tell you who you are and never decide for yourself, it leads you on an endless trail of never feeling good enough.
If you want to feel better about you, then stop letting others tell you who and what you are. Decide for yourself. [Read: Are you a people pleaser? 20 subtle signs that make you one]
#7 Look on the bright side. If you don’t feel good about yourself, it might be that you focus on the wrong things. Instead of seeing all the things in you that you don’t like, try to focus on your good qualities. There are unique talents that we all possess, perhaps feeling better about yourself is about finding your value and thinking positive.
#8 Let go of fear. There are times when we don’t feel good about ourselves because we don’t ever take a chance or live life the way that we want out of fear. Fear is a very powerful emotion that keeps us stuck and makes us feel like a spectator in our own life.
If we aren’t our genuine selves, it is hard to feel good about ourselves. Stop being afraid of being you or not living up to some expectation. You will feel much better about yourself. [Read: How to finally get over the fear of not being good enough]
#9 Don’t judge. The way to feel better about yourself is through focusing only on your own behavior. Judging other people doesn’t make us better. In fact, it almost always makes us feel worse about ourselves. If you want to feel better about yourself, stop worrying about what everyone else is doing and worry about you.
#10 Forgive, truly forgive. Holding onto the past keeps you upset and angry. It is difficult to feel good about you when you carry around a whole lot of ugly. How to feel good about yourself requires you to live in the here and now and not carry things from the past around to taint how we feel in our future.
#11 Be empathetic. Doing things for other people always makes you feel good about yourself. Learning to be more empathetic and helping people in need, whether it is volunteering or just helping your neighbor by cutting their grass, makes you feel golden. [Read: How to be more empathetic and forge emotional connections]
#12 Always follow through. Nothing makes you feel worse about you than not following through. When you make a commitment to other people, you secretly make it to yourself. Not following through can make you feel like a quitter and no one likes a quitter. Not even when it is you.
#13 Do unto others. To feel better about yourself, always treat other people the way you want to be treated. If you stop and consider how you would want someone to treat you before you act, you will always feel okay with your decisions and your behaviors.
#14 Invest in people. Investing in other people helps you to feel better about yourself. Sometimes taking a chance on someone who might not seem to deserve it is the best feeling in the world. Investing in people in your life makes you feel connected and better about who you are.
#15 Don’t talk badly about other people. Nothing is uglier than talking behind someone’s back. If you want to feel better about yourself, then don’t talk badly about other people behind their backs.
If you have a problem, go straight to the source. Gossiping and backstabbing doesn’t make anyone feel good, especially not if you are the one perpetrating it. [Read: How to be classy: 20 traits that command awe and respect]
#16 Be the person to defend those who can’t defend themselves. Just like you shouldn’t gossip about others, if you want to feel better about yourself, going one step further to defend someone makes you feel really good. Being the person who steps up to defend the innocent is a great way to define who and what you are made of.
#17 Believe in something greater than you. If you don’t believe in anything greater than you, then you probably don’t feel very good about yourself. If you don’t have a purpose in life or know what that purpose is, it is hard to know if you are doing what you are supposed to.
Believing in something outside of yourself and having faith are excellent things to make you feel better about yourself and what you do. [Read: The need for purpose in life and 5 big things it’ll do for you]
#18 If you have more than enough, help those who lack. If you want to know how to feel better about yourself, it is about being less selfish. If you have more than enough, then give back or share with others who are less fortunate.
Giving a little of what you have to make someone else feel safe and secure leaves you feeling much better about yourself.
#19 Don’t be dogmatic. There is a right and a wrong to everything, but unfortunately, there is also a gray area. If you want to feel better about yourself, it isn’t always about doing the “right” thing.
It is about taking all things into consideration and doing the thing that feels right for you. Being able to roll with things and make good decisions based on being a good person makes you feel better about yourself. [Read: How to be a good person: 10 small changes to transform your world]
#20 Let go of stereotypes. Stereotypes or pigeonholing people doesn’t make anyone feel good about themselves. If you want to know how to feel better about yourself, it is about letting go of presuming you know people and what they are about based on their exterior characteristics.
Feeling good about yourself is based on knowing who you are and being the best person you know how to be. That is not always easy, nor does it always come naturally.
[Read: How to feel happy: 13 proven strategies for instant happiness]
If you want to know how to feel better about yourself, find your inner voice. Always try to be the best you possible, even if it takes more mindfulness, practice, and hardship.