Giving Up On Your Resolutions? Here’s Why You Should Give Yourself A Break

Now that January's officially over, many of us have let our lofty New Year's resolutions slide — and have thus headed into that all-too-familiar spiral of self-criticism. But, the latest infographic from happiness app-makers Happify explains why we should all just give ourselves a break. According to the infographic, self-compassion has three main components: Being supportive of ourselves, understanding everyone's human capacity for making the occasional mistake, and having the mindfulness to accurately know how we're doing. Practicing self-compassion, as we recently learned, can be the secret to getting out of the procrastination cycle. Simply forgiving ourselves for waiting until the last minute makes us much less likely to do it again. And, as the infographic explains, we're also more equipped to get through life's rough patches and have a better body image (regardless of BMI) when we're able to have compassion for ourselves. It's easy to confuse self-compassion with self-pity, and to use it as an excuse for self-indulgence or other not-so-cute behavior. But, that doesn't make it any less important; it just needs to be practiced mindfully, not indiscriminately. Check out the full details on why it pays to cut ourselves come slack — and get a few tips on how to actually make that happen — in the infographic below.