To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.

Getting on decent terms with yourself is not a small private achievement you finish and file away. It sets the tone of every year that follows, because you are the one companion you never get to leave. The quality of that arrangement shows in how you speak to yourself when something goes wrong, and in whether your own company feels like relief or like a sentence.

Notice the voice you use on yourself after a mistake this week. Try answering it the way you would answer a friend who had made the same mistake.