Becoming Your Own Cheerleader
I had a really beautiful realisation this week and when I woke up this morning I knew it was what I needed to share with you today. I have really, deeply become my own cheerleader and it feels AMAZING! It hasn’t come overnight but this week when I was struggling to get out of bed in the morning, it’s suddenly so dark and I’m still recovering from burn out, a little voice in my head starting saying “come on lovely, you are so amazing. It doesn’t matter that this is hard and you’ve been scrolling on your phone to try and wake yourself up, you are getting up now. You are doing so well. Come on, let’s go and do ten minutes of yoga. Ten minutes still counts. I love you. You are doing so well.” My cheerleader was right there in my own head!
And it wasn’t a one off. I have had a horrible ear infection this week. Ouch! I don’t take painkillers very often, so had completely forgotten that I needed to take some before going to bed. I ended up waking up in a lot of pain and my cheerleader was there again, so kind and gentle. I got myself up, took some pain killers, made a cup of calming herbal tea, went back to bed and read my book and drank my tea until the pain killers kicked in and I could sleep. My cheerleading voice was so sweet and I felt so supported….by myself taking care of myself with all the love and tenderness that I would with one of my children.
How did I get here? Definitely not overnight but in taking lots of little steps towards really, deeply loving and appreciating myself. If you haven’t got your own inner cheerleader yet, here are three things you can do to grow and cultivate yours.
Affirmations - the power of affirmations really is true. With regular, consistent practice of writing them down, repeating them in your head or saying them out loud, they really do work. An amazing thing to do is to record yourself saying your affirmations and then listen to the recording a couple of times a day…or even just once if you feel too busy. You talking to yourself in this powerful, kind, loving way, is such an amazing and transformative practice.
Mirror work - this is something I consistently did for a couple of years and I do still regularly do. I did it until I really, truly believed what I was saying. Look in the mirror, really look into your eyes and say “I love you.” Say it three times. It will probably feel so ridiculous or so difficult for a while. Show up every morning and repeat this. Notice how slowly you begin to believe it. Once you can look at yourself in the mirror and say “I love you” and really believe it, really mean it, the way you treat yourself will really shift. Your inner cheerleader will be whooping and dancing with delight!!
Journal - write yourself a letter about all the things you are proud of yourself for this year. You might not love everything about yourself right now but try to find things you do love or at least like! Write them down. Do this practice as often as you can. You could write yourself a letter from your inner cheerleader. What would she say to you?
Trust - the more you remind yourself that it’s really possible to grow your inner cheerleader, the more confidence you will have. The more likely she is to appear. She is already inside you, waiting for you to welcome her. I promise you!
Don’t give up on working to find your inner cheerleader. It’s such a powerful, valuable thing cultivate. So often in life we need to set boundaries, advocate for ourself, make ourselves and our needs a priority but without our inner cheerleader it can be really hard to do these things. Go for it! You are so worthy and so loved.