Fearne Cotton Instagram – Three questions for you on World Mental Health day.
The answers to these questions have become the bedrock to my mental health.
Ten years ago I would have no to all three.
If we can learn to like/accept ourselves when others don’t we have a pretty good chance of robustly moving through a very noisy world where everyone has an opinion.
It doesn’t mean you shun accountability, nor does it mean you ignore your past mistakes. The answer YES means you can forgive yourself. You can dare to be different and that you’re willing to show up authentically rather than be bogged down by the desire to be universally liked.
Cultivating self compassion is a daily discipline. Rather than believing it takes time, I think its undulating depending on factors like stress, sleep, self care etc but we can return to the idea each day.
What I do know is without it life feels very hard. When you turn on yourself its near impossible to feel joy, contentment or just simply ok.
Forgive yourself before others do. Like yourself before you seek outside validation and know that we have all fucked up, taken a wrong turn, sometimes feel lost, and can’t see the good out there. That doesn’t make you flawed. It makes you human. | Posted on 10/Oct/2025 17:57:59
