To get started, think carefully about the sort of messages or phrases that usually help to lift your mood: “[Put] aside some time and write down 15 to 30 affirmations you love, then use these as a pool to pull from each day,” recommends positive psychologist Dawn Baxter.

If you’re used to speaking to yourself negatively, of course, this will inevitably seem difficult to begin with. One way to tackle this, Baxter suggests, is to think of yourself as talking to someone else. “Sometimes we talk to ourselves in a way that we wouldn’t talk to other people,” she says. “Imagine if it were your best friend in the situation and see how you would respond to that person… If we speak to ourselves the way we speak to other people, it allows you to give yourself a bit of a break and a reminder that you deserve self-respect and love too.”

Another tactic, Dr Vyas-Lee explains, is to address the younger version of yourself: “What would you say to the five-year-old you that was having a bad day and feeling negative about themselves?”

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