Blog

Keeping Your Word… To Yourself

Do you place a lot of value on keeping your word with the people in your life? Do you place the same emphasis on keeping your word to yourself? This blog post is going to address how important it is to keep your word to yourself and how it can positively impact your life. If you’re great at keeping your word with others—but not with yourself—this blog post will provide some valuable insight and tools to help you make some improvements.

Why is it so important to keep my word to myself?

Many people place a lot of importance in living a life filled with integrity and will emphasize the importance of keeping their word to the people with whom they interact. This is not only an admirable quality; it also helps to establish and maintain strong bonds, as you will be viewed as a dependable person. As time goes by, you will become regarded as someone who is trustworthy and of high moral fiber.

But keeping your word to others is only half as important as keeping your word to yourself. While it is nice that other people will place you in high regard, you also need to take stock of what you say to yourself. Having people depend on you can provide a certain level of satisfaction, but being able to depend on yourself is of greater importance.

When trying to evaluate how trustworthy you are with yourself, it is best to start paying more attention to the conversation taking place in your head. When you tell yourself you’re going to do something, do you do it? If you don’t, why not? What excuses do you find yourself using? Is it easy for you to not keep your word to yourself? Do you find this happening time and time again?

The answers to these questions will let you see how consistent—or inconsistent—you are with keeping your word to yourself. The results might prove a little startling if you’ve never before analyzed your record of following through on promises you’ve made to yourself. If you’ve discovered that quite often you can’t—or at least don’t—keep your word, it’s important to start understanding why. The first step is becoming aware of the issue; once that’s accomplished you can move on to changing the behavior.

How can I do a better job at keeping my word to myself?

After you’ve become more aware of the fact that you have difficulty with keeping your word, the next step is to make some changes. The next time you tell yourself that you’re going to do something—no matter how big or how small—make sure you follow through and do it. Whether that means running an errand, making a phone call, sending an email, showing up to an appointment early or meeting a friend, follow through and do it. The action you take is secondary to the effort you make in keeping your word. It’s vital that you don’t make exceptions, that you follow through every time without fail. This can take some practice. At first you might fall short and make some mistakes. That’s okay; don’t be too hard on yourself. Be supportive and persistent with the understanding that your word to yourself is the most important thing. If you keep trying your best and improving every day, you will soon find that being able to depend on yourself is an important part of your reality and a very worthy endeavor.

At Above & Beyond Acupuncture we provide support and guidance for patients who are looking to better themselves. If keeping your word to yourself is something you’d like assistance with, please consider setting up an appointment to work with our practitioners who are ready to help you help yourself.