Marriage Counsellor and Psychologist Shivani Misri Sadhoo

In life “feeling bad about yourself” generally comes very easily and in most time, it comes silently. When someone hurts you or criticizes you or if you fail then feeling bad about yourself is a common outcome. To some extent feeling bad about ourselves is good if it helps us to bring self-analysis and re-strategy and re-plan – but if this feeling sustains for long then it can severely damage our self-esteem and confidence level or worst it may put us in a vicious cycle of bad feelings, weak self-confidence and poor results.

In this article renowned psychologist, marriage counselor and relationship expert  Shivani Misri Sadhoo share 5 ways to feel better about yourself. Here they are:

1.      Always trust yourself

Never ever stop believing in yourself, and remember every outcome in life has many things involved in it, like time, situation, resources, you and others. Hence if you fail, try to shift your emotions and mental energy to analyze the whole situation – not just yourself but others too and try to figure out what could be an alternate approach or strategy to succeed.

2.      Understand that disappointments are a part of life

Observe and study successful people’s life and you will find that every successful person has dealt with disappointments at some point of life, but that has never stopped them. Rather they have learned to use the bad situations to get to the next level of life. The trick is to process your feelings, then put them into action.

3.      Learn to forgive yourself

Remember that our mistakes do not define us. They do not make us good people or bad people. If we learn and grow from them, then they make us better people. To develop positive self-views, you must keep in mind that everyone makes mistakes. Forgive yourself, and give yourself credit for trying not to make the same mistakes again.

4.      Watch Your Thoughts

Your thinking and thought process will never be 100 percent positive all the time. You must learn to dismiss the negative thoughts and stay open to other ideas that will assist you to move in a positive way. Start identifying negative thoughts and use your mind to challenge them.

5.      Don’t Expect Too Much

Desires can be a powerful motivating tool, but wanting or expecting something too much can be very hurtful and very pressurizing, so do not live beyond your means or wish the unattainable. Seek your desire, but keep your integrity.

Are you finding it difficult to get along with your mother-in-law?

Do you wish you could have lesser stress over your relationship with her?

Whenever we think about a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship, unfortunately, most of the time a negative image comes to our mind.

In-laws can be the cause of a great deal of stress and frustration especially, to a young mother if she is not equipped to balance the demands of child-caring, house-cleaning, working and nurturing the relationships of her loved ones.

Mothers-in-law may be difficult to manage as some may benchmark you against their high standards, pick on everything you do (especially if you are living with them) and interfere when you try to discipline your kids.

But there are some ways to help resolve disputes with your mother-in-law.

Renowned, psychologist, marriage counselor and relationship expert Shivani Misri Sadhoo shares 5 ways to have a better mother-in-law and daughter in law relationship. Here, they are:

1. Pick Your Battles

Not everything is worth arguing over. If your mother-in-law prefers you to follow a certain criterion when you keep your stuff.  Particularly, if you live in her place, give yourself space and time to accommodate her preferences.

When it comes to arguments over issues which are really important like the choice of school for your kid, you can at least remind her in a polite manner that you listened to her for a lot of  other things and followed them. Can she let you have your own way for this one thing?

2. Try to Woo Her At Regular Intervals

You might be thinking. Is it really possible? Nevertheless, give it a second thought. Every woman likes to be loved and appreciated, not just from their husbands and sons but even their daughters-in-law. Keep aside your pride and ego, and ask her out for her favorite activity or thing once in a while.

Set aside time and a reasonable budget (you don’t need to go overboard) to take her to eat her favorite cuisine, shop for clothes, travel on an affordable holiday or treat her to a movie or a concert of her choice.

Give a beautiful bouquet of flowers once in a while and let her show it in front of her friends.

Even a small act of love, like buying her lunch or dinner when she is sick, will help to open her heart towards you.

3.  Never Try To Out-Argue Her. Especially In Front of Others

As Indians, we value respect towards our elders a lot. More so as a daughter-in-law. Even if your mother-in-law is wrong, unless this is a life-threatening event, let her have the last say and absorb your words. When she is cooled down and you too, try interacting with her nicely, and ask her to consider your point of view too.

Yes, it means you have to eat humble pie, but if you value your relationship with her, somebody needs to take a step back first. After some time, when she feels you are not a threatening daughter-in-law, she may change her stance on how she responds to you.

4.  Find Allies

If you can make an ally with anyone else to intervene on your behalf, for example, your husband, children or siblings-in-law, do it in advance. Build goodwill with them so they can vouch you’re not a bad daughter-in-law when you get into a dispute with your mother-in-law.

5.   Discuss Your Concerns

There are many external factors that throw a spanner into your relationship with your mother-in-law. These could include stresses in getting a job, managing demands of work and family, health issues of yourself or family members, or major changes diet, going back to your studies etc.

If you do face external concerns, share them with your mother-in-law. Try to let her understand what’s going on in your life and how you’re trying your best to figure these things out. She may just give you that little bit of extra space you need at the moment and at best can also, provide you with a good idea.