On Thursday Crew Finch shared a lovely breakfast together whilst using the time to talk about being kinder. But this session wasn’t about being kinder to others; it was about being kinder to ourselves.
A recent State of the Nation report explored the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people, and indicated that 1 in 5 young people aged between 10-24 years are not happy.
Of course, there are lots of contributing factors towards this, but I thought it would be good to sit with Crew and talk more about what it means to be kind to ourselves, and make them realise that the voice inside our head – i.e. our own self perception – often tells us lies.
I asked Crew to consider this: is it OK to talk to other people the way we often talk to ourselves?
They answered with a unanimous ‘No.’
We ended the session by writing down 3 things we loved about ourselves. We’re going to have these on display for a few days and I’ve asked Crew to add more good things as and when they want to (either more about themselves or about others.)
I also asked Crew to write down a burden – one thing that is making them feel unhappy about themselves at the moment – and these have been passed to me rather than shared, unless they were happy to do so. I’ve pledged to spend a some time with each member of Crew individually over the next week, just to have a quick discussion about their burden. Hopefully it will lighten the load for them and make them understand that it is indeed good to talk: to ourselves and to others!