Unless you happen to live under a rock or in a secluded cave, the world is in a bit of a tumultuous place, especially right now, the year is 2020 in case you forgot. Regardless of outside stimuli bombarding us, our internal selves always need love. Loving yourself in challenging times is entirely possible no matter what issues are wreaking havoc around or within your orbit. It’s also essential because your self-confidence and happiness should always come first!

Remember that doing your best won’t always look the same

Some days you’re going to kill it and end the day feeling like a productive rockstar, in charge and in control of your life. Other days you’re going to see your reflection in the mirror and wonder when you were hit by a train and managed to survive. It’s all good. If you manage to somehow balance out the productive days alongside the days you get hit by the hot mess express, I’d say you’re doing just fine.

But on a serious note, our best effort certainly won’t always look the same and we can’t beat ourselves up by holding ourselves to the same standard of excellence every single time. That’s exhausting, and I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty fed up with that mindset. Let’s just do our best on any given day and try not to compare it to our best on a past day with better circumstances. 

Keep it zen

What type of activities, sounds, or aromas calm you? The sound of a mini waterfall outside your window while working from home helps to prevent throwing your laptop down the stairs and provides you with a relaxing soundscape. If you don’t have that, use an app on your phone with sounds or music that keep you relaxed during a stressful project or lowered mood.

If you’re back at the office, get up from your desk every now and then and get some stretches in if that helps. Take some deep breaths in and out. Watch a YouTube video on your break (or not on your break if you can get away with that) that makes you feel good. Try to always bring yourself back to a happy place.

You may also prefer the scent of lavender or eucalyptus over body odor and someone heating up fish for lunch. Plenty of aromatherapy diffusers and oils are available at your local retailers to bring you serene smells. Ahhhhh, it’s lovely to smell lavender wafts instead of *insert gross smell here.* Keep it simple. Keep it zen. If you’re not sure what’s zen for you, it’s never too late to experiment. Get wild with finding your zen. It’s so worth it and so are you!

Focus on GRATITUDE

Incorporating a gratitude practice into your life will force you to see the good things. I believe that even in the worst of times, there are things to be happy about. Gratitude is a great tool for loving yourself in challenging times. When you’re in the thick of whatever sh*tstorm life’s thrown at you, it can be hard to focus on gratitude.

However, I truly believe it makes a pleasant difference. I started practicing gratitude by writing in my gratitude journal. I began with a minimum of three things daily that I was thankful for. If you need to start with one, so be it. It could be as simple as, I’m grateful for my lunch today or I’m grateful for my fighting spirit.

We can’t ignore all of our blessings in the same token that we can’t give up on ourselves as much as we may want to. If you feel like you barely made it through another day, thank yourself because you did! You’re here and things can get better. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being you. Thank you for swinging by to PSL! 

Loving yourself in challenging times is entirely possible and essential!

Create a safe space in your mind

When you’re truly at peace with yourself, the outside world can’t keep you down. It may try and perhaps succeed at times. Sometimes, more often than not. But if you create a kingdom of love and peace within your own mind, nothing my beautiful Starchild, I repeat, nothing can ever take that away from you.

Now creating this safe space is tough. Sometimes you create one, and afterward, it’s extremely hard to find. It could feel like you become sucked into a black void of nothingness and feel paralyzed. It could take you years, let alone days, to find what path you took that led you back to your safe space. I talk about this safe space in your mind in my article Create a safe space in your mind.

What activity are you doing when you find the path back to the safe space in your mind? Can you get there when you’re working at a career you love, when you’re at the beach or when you’re pursuing a passion? You may have to experiment with yourself to find where the paths for your safe spaces are located. As we grow more familiar with our safe spaces, it’s much easier to access our version of calm.

Mental hurricanes still plague me but my safe spaces are always there, waiting for me to arrive, giving me a hug, and welcoming me home. I wish for you to find your safe space if you haven’t. I know you can!

Loving yourself in challenging times is just as important as loving yourself when a lot of things seem to be working in your favor. If anything I’d say loving yourself in the challenging times is even more important. Use your self-love as an internal oasis that you can always visit amidst an often harsh and dry outer landscape. 

Let’s commit to loving ourselves the best we can and make the most of our current situations, no matter how terrible or lovely they may seem!