Self-Improvement: Becoming the Best Version of You
By: Laura Amodeo
This blog has been reviewed by Chiamaka Okigbo and Bre O’Handley; edited, formatted and published by Nicholas Murray.
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For a long time, I told myself I wanted to work on myself and improve in different aspects of my life. For example, I wanted to be the type of person who read more often, but never actually put in the time to do so. I would always end up using excuses such as having no time or energy when it came to committing to the improvements I wanted, which was never the case. I realized that if I genuinely wanted to improve and see changes in myself, I would have to put in the time and effort and allow myself to be uncomfortable, even though it might be difficult. Self-improvement and growth require you to step out of your bubble and comfort zone. This could be because enacting change is inevitably accompanied by discomfort. Maybe this is why many people are stuck in their unwanted ways/routines; they are scared of change because it means they lose that sense of security that we often crave in our day-to-day lives.
Over the past four years, I’ve been a student of higher education; meaning that I had a predictable routine of going to class, writing papers/assignments, studying, working and volunteering. After graduating this past April, I felt like I lost that sense of security and that a part of my identity was gone because I no longer had a routine in place. I knew I had to make some major changes in all aspects of my life and a new and improved routine needed to be set in stone. Surprisingly, even though I am someone who gets anxious about big changes in my life, I was fully dedicated to improving my overall wellness.
I did some research and found that there were 5 main types of wellness that I would be able to target on a day-to-day basis and that were important to me: physical wellness, emotional wellness, social wellness, intellectual wellness, and mental wellness.¹ Knowing this, I devised a plan to make positive changes in each domain. To improve my physical wellness, I would take care of my body physically by eating well, working out/stretching, and sleeping a minimum of eight hours every night. To boost my emotional wellness, I would do more things that bring me joy and that I am passionate about. For example, for me, this includes listening to music, dancing, putting on a face mask and baking/cooking.
Next, I would improve my social wellness by visiting my family, limiting time on social media, and making plans with friends more often. It is really important to surround yourself with people who uplift you, add value to your life and make even the most boring routines more enjoyable. Surrounding yourself with negative people may completely shift your perspective on life and negatively impact you and your mental health as well. For example, as time has gone on, I have made some new friends and lost touch with some other friends. These new friends I made were also into self-love and becoming better people, which pushed and motivated me to become better myself. This highlights the importance of surrounding ourselves with the right people. As Jim Rohn said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with”.² If you surround yourself with people who are lazy, spend money on unnecessary things and like to bring other people down, you will become a reflection of them.
To support my intellectual wellness, I am working on trying to perfect my Italian writing and speaking by reading Italian novels, as I want to be able to communicate fluently with my grandparents. This would aid not only my intellectual wellness but the social aspect of my life too. Finally, I decided to work on my mental wellness by doing things that make my mind feel calm and at peace, while also working on my relationship with myself. I’m doing this by journaling, going to therapy, challenging negative thoughts, telling myself positive affirmations, and cleaning my room. Cleaning our rooms is extremely important as our environment is also a reflection of the state of our mind.³ For example, most of the time during finals, my room would be a disaster because I would be overly focused on studying and would make sure any free time I had was spent on reviewing. However, studying in a messy environment made me more anxious and made me lose focus more easily. So, now I always make sure that my room is somewhat clean so I feel more relaxed and focused. We all deserve a clean and safe space to live in.
Self-love is a big component of self-improvement, therefore you need to be patient with yourself as learning new habits and becoming a better version of yourself will take time, and it is completely normal.⁴ Progress isn’t linear, so you need to be understanding and empathetic towards yourself. It is also important not to compare your progress to others’ progress. We all have different life circumstances and have gone through different challenges. The only person you could and should be comparing yourself to, are older versions of you. This is very rewarding and will show you how far you’ve come and have improved, even if it wasn’t evident at the time.
Progress isn’t linear, so you need to be understanding and empathetic towards yourself.
All these examples of tasks I do might seem to be extremely hard to keep track of. However, I found an app called “Habit Tracker”⁵ that helps me make sure I work on every single aspect of wellness as many times as I would like to in a day or in a week. You can also track your progress over the weeks and months, so it’s a great way to stay organized.
In conclusion, self-improvement is a continuous ongoing process that will take time. Make sure to start with baby steps and slowly build up these habits, to avoid overwhelming yourself and burning yourself out.
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References
- Stoewen D. L. (2017). Dimensions of wellness: Change your habits, change your life. The Canadian veterinary journal = La revue veterinaire canadienne, 58(8), 861–862. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5508938/
- Chua, C. (2010, April 2). 42 Practical Ways to Start Working on Self-Improvement — LifeHack. Lifehack. https://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/42-practical-ways-to-improve-yourself.html
- Rogers, C. J., & Hart, R. (2021). Home and the extended-self: Exploring associations between clutter and wellbeing. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 73, 101553–101553. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101553
- Davis, T. (2015). Self-Improvement: 45 Tips, Goals, and Ideas for Self-Growth. The Berkeley Well-Being Institute. https://www.berkeleywellbeing.com/self-improvement.html
- Co, D. (2019, January 31). Habit Tracker. App Store. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/habit-tracker/id1438388363
