Self-acceptance is the ability to accept yourself for who you are, without judgement. Self-deprivation is a cycle of thinking negatively about yourself and feeling like there’s nothing good to come from you. When you’re in a self-deprivation cycle, it can be difficult to break out of. How do you stop the self-deprivation cycle? Here are 9 ways to learn self-acceptance so that it becomes easier each time.

Begin with awareness

One of the most important things to do when you’re trying to learn self-acceptance is to be aware of how you’re feeling and thinking. Awareness is the first step in breaking any cycle of self-deprivation because it allows you to identify when you’re in a negative mindset and out of a self-deprivation cycle.

Breaking the cycle

Identify what you are thinking when you’re in a negative mindset. Do you feel like you deserve to be treated badly, or like you have nothing good to offer the world? Are you constantly feeling guilty? Do you feel like everyone around you is against you?

Being aware of how you are feeling and whether you are in a self-deprivation state will help you to break the cycle easier.

Know your worth

In order to accept yourself and begin to learn self-acceptance, you first need to accept your worth. This can be the most difficult part of learning self-acceptance because it means you’re accepting that you’re not perfect because being perfect is impossible.

Everyone has flaws

It’s not about trying to hide them, but knowing them and accepting them. Accepting your flaws and knowing your true worth is a huge part of self-acceptance. It also allows you to develop confidence, as you know that you have value as a person and don’t need to be defensive about it.

Practice self-love and nourishment

Self-love and nourishment are two important parts of self-acceptance. We spend so much of our day trying to prove ourselves to other people, and this often leads to us not spending as much time as we need on ourselves.

When you’re practising self-love, it’s important to stay away from criticism. Criticism will only lead to a self-deprivation cycle. Instead, try and focus on kindness, gentleness and respect for yourself.

Try saying things like “I love this about myself,” “I’m proud of myself,” and “Keep doing what you’re doing!” to yourself in a mirror, positive talk will go a long way.

Find your passion and pursue it

If you don’t have a passion in your life, then it can be very easy to feel like you have nothing to offer the world. You need to find a passion in your life that you truly love.

Hobbies work too

This doesn’t necessarily have to be a career path. It could be a hobby that you love doing or something that helps you relax or decompress. If you have a passion, then it’s much easier to feel like you have something good to offer the world.

Once you’ve found your passion, then it’s time to pursue it. This doesn’t mean you have to dive headfirst into something, but it does mean you need to put effort into it. Put an hour or two over the weekend into your chosen path and see how much better you feel after starting.

The more time and effort you put into your chosen passion, the better you'll feel about yourself and the more accomplished you'll feel.

Practice self-compassion

One of the best ways to practice self-compassion is to cultivate a sense of gratitude. Gratitude is a huge part of self-acceptance because it allows you to recognize all the things in your life that you’re grateful for.

Practice gratitude

Cultivating a gratitude journal or setting aside a set amount of time throughout the day to be grateful will help you to develop a sense of gratitude. You don’t have to be overly grateful, but you do need to recognize all the things in your life that you’re grateful for.

Know your limits

Self-compassion is about recognizing your limitations and not beating yourself up for things that you can’t control. It’s important to also recognize that everyone goes through struggles, even people with seemingly perfect lives.

If you’re quick to judge yourself when you struggle, you’re going to feel like you have nothing good to offer the world. It’s important to recognize your struggles but also to realize that everyone has them.

Everyone has their down days, and this is something that is expected. It's how you treat yourself during these days that is what matters.

Be active in your life

When you’re in a self-deprivation cycle, it’s important that you become more active within your life. It doesn’t necessarily mean you need to do something extreme, like travel the world or start a company. It can simply mean that you start doing something you love.

It doesn’t matter what it is; it could be doing chores around the house, reading a book, journaling, or just pushing yourself to do something you’re not used to doing.

Be more in the moment

Being active in your life doesn't just mean physically moving or mentally challenging yourself, but being in the moment mentally. Being grounded in your life is crucial to accepting yourself.

Try practising mindfulness by breathing deeply when you're on the go, acknowledging all your emotions whether they be good or bad, and actually listening to the person you are talking to. Don't just listen to respond to them, but listen to understand them

Learn from your struggles

When you’re in a self-deprivation cycle, it’s important that you know you’re going to struggle and that you don’t have to try to hide it. It’s okay if you have a bad day or if you find yourself struggling, it’s important to acknowledge this and use it as a learning experience.

There is a lesson in every struggle

Whilst you are in the midst of a struggle, focus on finding a way to get past it. Call a friend or family member, seek help or focus on yourself for a few days. Once you are past this state, it's time to look back at how it happened, why it happened and how to avoid the situation next time.

Don't beat yourself up

We all go through struggles in life. The biggest thing to remember is that it doesn't make you any less worthy, it just makes you human. How you learn from your struggles is much more important than the struggle itself.

Talk about what matters to you

One of the best ways to practice self-acceptance is to open up to your friends and family about what you’re feeling. If you’ve been trying to keep things bottled up for a long time, it’s going to be very difficult to share them.

Sharing can be very rewarding

The first step to talking about what you’re feeling is acknowledging that you have these feelings and that you want to talk about them. It's important to do this with someone you trust so that you can fully open up.

Another important step is to be vulnerable. This means that you don’t have to try and hide who you truly are. You can be vulnerable by sharing your true feelings without trying to hide who you truly are.

Don't forget to be picky about who you share yourself with. Many people have different levels of trust with friends, choose those you trust the most to share yourself with. You don't need to have the added stress of worrying that someone you don't trust knows more about you than you want them to.

Have a supportive community

One of the best ways to practice self-acceptance is to surround yourself with people who support you. This doesn't mean you need to only surround yourself with people who agree with you 100%. It just means that you surround yourself with people who make you feel good about who you are.

When you surround yourself with people who accept you for who you are, it can be easier to notice when you’re feeling self-deprivation as they will pick up on your down moods more than people who only want you to be a certain way.