Being In Your Best Self
We all have heard someone say “I am in my best self” but what does that really mean?
“Being in your best self" means living authentically, aligning your actions with your values, and actively working towards reaching your full potential in all aspects of life, including personal growth, relationships, and career, by embracing your strengths and working on your weaknesses while staying true to who you are; essentially, it's about living a life that feels most fulfilling and meaningful to you.
Key aspects of "being your best self": (one point of view)
Self-awareness: Understanding your strengths, weaknesses, emotions, and values to make conscious choices aligned with your true self.
Positive mindset: Cultivating optimism and a growth mindset to approach challenges with resilience.
Authenticity: Acting in accordance with your values and beliefs, not trying to be someone you're not.
Goal setting: Having clear objectives and actively working towards them to achieve personal growth.
Continuous learning: Embracing opportunities to expand your knowledge and skills.
Healthy habits: Prioritizing physical and mental well-being through healthy lifestyle choices.
Positive relationships: Fostering healthy connections with others based on respect and support.
Key aspects of "being your best self": (another point of view)
Self-awareness: Stopping behavior that does not allow yourself to align with who YOU are
Positive mindset: Stop everything that interferes with you keeping positive: this includes: associations, friendships, routines, eating habits, drinking habits, hang out spots, and conversations.
Authenticity: Stop habits that do not allow yourself to showcase YOU. Your alter ego is not allowed in authenticity.
Goal setting: Stay clear of things that get in the way of YOU accomplishing YOUR goals.
Continuous learning: Listen more than you speak, observe more than you boast. Allow yourself to be around people that are in positions YOU want to be in. Allow yourself to be open to a social change. Be open to constructive critisim as this is your “on the job” way to learning and growing.
Healthy habits: Disassociate yourself with schedules, people, tv shows, conversations, and interactions that do not allow you to keep the healthy habits you’ve aquired along your journey to your best self.
Positive relationships: Distance yourself from people, situations, and unnecessary drama. Respect starts within yourself. When you demand respect for yourself, you keeping yourself around respectful and supporting people and surroundings, and distancing yourself from Disrespectful things, people will take notice and you will see this change.
To be your best self, you need to stay true to yourself and your values. You also need to make sure you're doing what brings you a sense of happiness, purpose, and meaning. Being your best self isn't dependent on life being smooth or perfect — it's about what you can control. Also key: is sustainability. You wouldn’t want to trade your tomorrow for the way you’re living today. Being your best self means understanding and unlocking your potential.
Tune out unhelpful comments from others, in favor of focusing on your needs and setting goals. This mindset applies to school, your career, relationships, health, and personal development.
Your best life will be different than someone else’s. There’s no “one right path” to living authentically and finding your true north.
10 strategies to help you become the best version of yourself - By Elizabeth Perry, ACC
There are no high school courses titled “how to become the best version of yourself 101,” so it may seem overwhelming to figure out where to begin. To get started, here are 10 tips to be the best version of yourself:
1. Don’t delay: Thinking about running that marathon? Register today. Eager to pursue that degree? Start preparing your application. The first step to doing anything worthwhile is beginning. And while it can be quite challenging to make that initial leap, without kicking off the process, you won’t get anywhere.
2. Prioritize what matters to you — not others. You’ll never feel fulfilled if you live trying to meet someone else's expectations. Instead, channel your effort and energy toward what matters to you. That may be your family, travel, or reading a good book regularly. Only you can determine what’s most important to your happiness and sense of purpose in life. Spend time around people who encourage positive self-talk and make you feel good about yourself.
3. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Unexpected events will undoubtedly arise as you go through life. You’ll make errors and embarrass yourself. That’s okay. Learn from your mistakes and setbacks and be grateful for the progress you’re making.
4. Accept help from others. Your pride can hold you back from accepting praise and evolving. Try to work against this, and accept help rather than denying it. There’s no need to travel the road to find your best self alone.
5. Take a break from social media. Platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and even Linkedin are deeply embedded in our lives. But even as social media keeps us connected and informed, it can lead to comparison and self-doubt. If you find that scrolling your feeds leaves you feeling down, not uplifted, try to establish boundaries. And if you feel inadequate as you browse social media, remember people tend to post their highlights, not low moments.
6. Celebrate small victories. The little things matter. Celebrating even small wins will give you the motivation to keep going until you reach your final goal. If you’re focusing on one big goal, try splitting it into steps so that you’re seeing progress. Don’t forget to reward yourself as you hit benchmarks and milestones!
7. Exercise daily. Exercise brings a wealth of positive effects to your everyday life:
According to a study from 2017, exercise creates better blood flow to the hippocampus region of your brain — a region that’s crucial for your memory. This translates into better working memory and focus. You’ll be more productive and efficient.
Physical activity also clears your mind and delivers a rush of oxygen to your tissues that helps your organs work more efficiently, which gives you more physical energy.
And, of course, exercise makes a big difference to your long-term health, helping prevent chronic health conditions such as type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, according to the Mayo Clinic. Your best self is a healthy self.
8. Speak up for yourself. Speak up for yourself. Your opinion is important. Stand up and speak up. It may be nerve-wracking, but the more you practice, the more confident you’ll feel.
9. Embrace failure. In order to experience growth, you’ll need to get out of your comfort zone. You’ll never develop new skills, discover new interests and passions, or experience personal growth without risks. Failure can be the best teacher if you take the time to reflect and do the work to learn from it.
10. Stop looking for short-cuts. These don't exist when it comes to self-improvement. It takes patience and hard work. Period.
