i was so hard on myself in therapist today-- i told my therapist that "at work, i feel useless, hopeless, stupid, lazy, uncoordinated, incapable. oh yeah, and funny looking."
my therapist said that i'm so compassionate with other people; she hopes i can find compassion for myself. she gave me an exercise -- every night write myself a paragraph to myself as though i were someone else.
i haven't written it yet, but i'm looking forward to it. it sounds so comforting. i keep thinking about how nice i'll be to myself.
what do you think your paragraph to yourself would say?
Once I was asked to write down ten things that I like about myself. Not ten things I think others like about me, but ten things I like about me.
ReplyDeleteI got two and I cannot recall what those two things were and I lied anyway. I think I would struggle now to get five.
Now I think to myself "I will keep doing what I do and being who I am because it makes others happy".
You should do it. It's an eye opener to put yourself in anothers shoes.
ReplyDeletelinda; you're so terrific, smart and witty and a great mom and wonderful person. and that's just the beginning.
ReplyDeletewe really don't see ourselves at all. good thing others like and value us!
eating alone; i think this is the first time i've ever had compassion for myself. it's nice. still hear the negative storm from my peanut gallery, but this was a good exercise for me.
I don't think I could do it. I can't wait to see how it goes for you though!
ReplyDeleteharriet; i wrote my first piece today. i swear it helps. the writing helps but more so -- it's this whole idea of looking at myself differently. i can imagine it. i can imagine myself as someone separate (i'm having a good hair day in my imagination) and it's nice.
ReplyDeleteinteresting exercise
Wow, that sounds hard. I don't know if I could do it to tell you the truth. I think it is great that you are open to doing new things toward your recovery. You are awesome!
ReplyDeleteit wasn't actually very hard. i enjoyed it. more than writing though, i enjoyed thinking about it? it was nice, and entirely new, being gentle with myself.
ReplyDelete