I’m not sure about you but everywhere I look there is an article telling me that I should get better at thing X or not do thing Y. It’s annoying and it makes you feel like you’ll never be enough. There are, however, healthy questions to ask yourself about whether or not self-improvement is the right way to go about it.
Keep reading as I answer questions like “How can self-improvement help you as an individual?” and “How self-improvement can help your community.” Of course, the first question you may want me to answer is, “What exactly is self-improvement anyway? Is it like from those articles and magazines you see at the grocery store?”
What is Self Improvement Anyway?
Thankfully, it absolutely isn’t that stuff you read about in those magazines and articles.
Self-improvement is, simply, bettering yourself to be able to handle whatever life throws at your way or even just certain things.
How Can Self Improvement Help You as an Individual?
You can gain improved focus and effectiveness. It may even help you just figure out the order of tasks because you recognize which ones are more important.
You will gain a self of direction. Clarity is achieved when you realize that self-improvement will help you figure out what you want in life.
As a child and teen, I had no focus. I had hobbies, sure, but absolutely the last person I focused on was myself. That wasn’t healthy and it took me years to understand I had to improve myself first before anything else.
You will be more resilient. By understanding what improving yourself is, you’ll realize you can change almost any situation that comes your way. If you can’t change it, you can change your attitude towards it, and both are important to learn.
You’ll be able to stay calmer when a crisis happens, enabling you to process things better, and learn from them.
Self-awareness is a huge benefit and probably the most important one on this list. This is where you figure out your values and beliefs. They help guide your actions throughout everything you do.
Multiple skills can be gained at once. Let’s take another example from my childhood.
I started martial arts as a teen for various reasons, one of those being how oblivious to the world around me I was. By gaining skill, I not only learned to defend myself, but I had to be aware of where my body was in relation to other people.
Your relationships will be improved or you’ll see which ones need to go. For me personally, this is the best one. Your healthy friendships will get stronger and you’ll be self-aware enough to know your worth and get rid of the ones that are unhealthy.
You will have greater motivation. When you have to rely on yourself to improve, there’s a realization and freedom to knowing it’s all up to you. This is what gets you up in the mornings.
How Self Improvement Can Help Your Community
If you think self-improvement is just about helping yourself, you’d be wrong. It can also help your community.
If more and more groups of people understood that material possessions weren’t as important as relationships with those around us, everyone would benefit. Can you imagine? No more or lessened fights during Black Friday over TVs or something similar.
Everyone is incredibly stressed right now. What if people focused on their hobbies instead of constantly rushing around?
This obviously isn’t plausible for everyone but can you imagine how much better moods people would be in and how that could translate into more happiness all around?
What would happen if everyone meditated? There are studies everyone discussing the benefits of meditation and how good it is for you. People would be calmer in general which may lead to less road rage, less violent acts, etc.
How amazing does that sound? I’m going to be honest that I struggle with meditation but I love the benefits that come with it and may need to try again.
What are you waiting for then? Go improve yourself not only for yourself but for your community as well! Maybe you’ll even inspire others to do the same! Find valuable self-improvement tips to become the better version of yourself.
