What to do when you’re feeling not-so-great about yourself

Japanese acceptance and the kindest thing you can do for yourself

We all have tough weeks.

And sometimes bad things just feel like they coming wave after wave. Setbacks we could usually accept with compassion, sometimes begin morphing into a tsunami of self-loathing.​

Why did I do that?

I’m a terrible person

I’m so stupid, everyone thinks I’m incompetent​

It almost seems silly writing it out like this, but in the moment those mean voices can feel so real.

Learning from Japanese values of acceptance

Being told to just “be positive”, while well-intentioned, can be considered its own form of rejecting our negative feelings.

Ironic as it is, sometimes the pressure to be positive can morph into its own form of criticism when you aren’t able to take on that optimistic outlook.

Illustrations by Kaki Okumura