Healing and Hypnotherapy Volume 4 Issue- 10, 1 April 2020 | Page 16

• • Being kind to yourself results in less anxiety and depression (source) Self-compassion reduces the stress that leads to procrastination (source) • Self-care can help you reach your goals (source) • Self-love can support you through adversity (source) Contrary to popular belief, learning how to love yourself isn’t new age woo woo – it is actually one of the smartest decisions you can make in your life. The Dark Side of Self-Love But it’s not always sunshine and roses. The truth is that most people will not want to support you. Not only that, but society at large will continue to bombard you with toxic subliminal messages, such as: 1 2 3 You have to make people like and accept you. You have to put others’ needs above your own all the time with no exception. You have to conform to the status quo and fit in. And when it comes to those around you: 4. You have to be unhappy and discontent – just like us.   The reality is that most people don’t like being truly happy: instead, they prefer comfort, stability, security, and control. Why? Because safety and predictability is the most comfortable way to live according to sociocultural standards. Unfortunately, the childlike mindset of needing to seek safety is precisely what makes (most) people so hesitant to support your self-love journey. When you walk the path less traveled, you directly contradict what others have invested so much of their effort into – comfort and mediocrity. Inevitably, you become a threat. By challenging people to reconsider their choices, actions, and mindsets through your behaviour, you unintentionally trigger self- doubt in others. And very few people are brave enough to honestly look at themselves and change. The truth is that when you start practicing self-love, you become a social heretic. You stick out. You stop fitting in. You cease being one of those misery-loves-company, sheep  who thrive on self-pity and cynicism. And suddenly this puts you in a very uncomfortable position, a position where you have to choose between taking the narrow path, or the wide, easy path.