It's time to start loving yourself.

 Hello beautiful people! Welcome to Brighter Days Ahead Podcast. I am Kelly Ward. I hope you are doing good and staying positive - I am so excited to be spending some time with you. 

Thank you so much for joining our Bright Community where we focus on the bright side by remaining cheerful and positive about a bad situation, by thinking of some advantages that could result from those challenges we experience in life and maintaining a bright perspective overall because the situation or challenge may not be as bad as we tend to make it in our minds, and I strongly believe that we are never given something that we cannot handle. 

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Self care is becoming a more talked about topic, because so many of us are experiencing moments of anxiety, depression and stress. In an ever changing world, we sometimes find ourselves over extending, consumed by worry and we end up neglecting our own needs. Spending quality time by yourself, for yourself, simply doing an activity that makes you happy, is so important for your mental health. If you want to lead a happier life, you need to learn how to love yourself more. If you want to get into a new, healthy relationship, you need to ensure that you love yourself first. If your goal is to treat your family well, make sure that you learn how to take care of yourself first, because you cannot fill up someone else's cup, until you have filled up your own cup. If you choose to take the path of learning to love yourself, you will be a much happier person, because you will treat other people in a better way, you will have the courage to leave toxic relationships and the more you love yourself, the more love you will have to give to your loved ones. Taking care of yourself can mean taking a day off when you feel like it, having a pamper session at home, making yourself a cup of tea and reading a book, doing Pilates, meeting a friend or simply watching your favorite tv show. Taking care of yourself is doing what you feel is right for you in the moment, being aware of when you are starting to become overwhelmed and need a break, not pushing yourself into something you don't want to do and focusing on doing something that is going to make you feel good. 

Firstly practice more self compassion, self forgiveness and kindness towards yourself and stop constantly focusing on everything you dislike about yourself and start to identify more things that you love about yourself. 

Secondly start a journal. Having a journal or a healthy outlet to express how you are feeling, is so good for your mental health. It is such a positive way to take care of your mind, where you are able to write down things that make you feel uneasy, where you can write down your goals, dreams, wishes and any thoughts that may come across in your mind and most importantly, you are able to write down everything you are grateful for. In the morning, choose to write down 5 things you are grateful for - this will help you to start your day in a positive frame of mind. 

Say goodbye to negative people in your life. Are there any people who make you feel bad about yourself? You need to understand that no one has the right to make you feel bad about yourself and once you understand that and choose to be selective about who you surround yourself with, you will see a shift in your life. You don't need negativity in your life. Instead, surround yourself with people who inspire you, are kind to you. 

Spend less time on social media. Social media can be a very good thing, especially if you have a business or looking to grow a brand. However life is all about balance, so try and schedule time where you take a break from social media, because once you start spending too much time scrolling on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, you start subconsciously comparing yourself, your life, your body or your own self worth and it definitely won't help when you are trying to really love yourself. 

Have a morning routine is so helpful so create your own unique, simple morning routine that will help you feel motivated and energized to start your day, put you in a good place mentally and put you in a mood where you feel ready to go after your dreams. Get yourself motivated every morning. You could incorporate having a cup of tea, listening to a motivational talk, writing in your journal, treating your skin to a face mask, going for a walk or reading a good book. 

We all have different preferences of what we enjoy doing, so at least once a day, do something that makes you feel good and that makes you happy, something that makes you forget all of your worries, and where you can simply enjoy this very moment as it is. Surround yourself with positive energy, because your mental wellbeing, your success and your happiness depends on it. 

Embrace the positive side of life, where you feel grateful for what each new day brings, all of the challenges that come at us, make it even more fun. If life was perfect, it would be so boring and that is so important to really understand and accept. So choose to have fun and enjoy your life and don't be so focused on all of your worries for the future. Live now. 

Thank you for spending time with me today, I release podcast episodes every Wednesday. 

I love you :)

Goodbye.