Self love is something I have struggled with for years.
I don't ever remember a time I was fully comfortable in my own skin and happy with my weight, body or shape.
It is only recently that I have fully learnt to accept and love who I am. My strengths, my weakness, my perfections and my flaws - funnily enough when I wrote that sentence the first time I started that sentence with the negative not the positive.
Really what it comes down to it positive thinking and focusing on the small things that make you beautiful, individual and you.
I looked for love and acceptance in the wrong places - from friends, boys and family - they could never give it to me because I would never let them.
Not matter how many times my parents would tell me I am beautiful I would dismiss it thinking they had to say it.
Boys were never the answer, letting myself being defined by if they fancied me, bought me drinks on a night out and if they would text after a first date.
I read somewhere that until you love yourself no one else can love you.
I was sceptical when I read this at first because my mind set was people should love me then I will accept myself - sounds awful because I have an amazing family and friends, but I still couldn't get there.
I lost weight for myself, thinking just one more pound and I would be happy and guess what when I hit the magic number I still wasn't there.
Everything changed when I met my boyfriend - my best friend and one of my biggest supporters outside my family.
At first I thought it was him who changed me and taught me to love myself because when I was with him I was at my best, but after time I realised he had only taught me to think differently about the way I approach things - my confidence grew, my workouts changed, my eating habits also changed and because of this and him I found myself becoming happier.
When we were apart I felt a little lost and like I was falling backwards, and I didn't want to become the needy, desperate girlfriend that couldn't be away from her boyfriend, so instead I channelled what he had taught me and changed my mind set on my own.
Sure the encouragement came from him, but in the end it was all down to me to make it happen.
I found as I worked on this our relationship became stronger, but also the relationship with myself became stronger - so I guess it is true, well sort of I found love and in turn found love in myself.
Now every morning I look at myself in the mirror and choose a nice, positive thing about myself - my shoulders, my eyes, my lips for example.
A small feature, but it makes a big impact on my day. Like any girl I like to feel pretty, I also like to feel in shape, lean, muscular, so I look for these things every day, making sure I find at least one positive thing to focus on.
Sometimes I don't pick a body feature, other days it will be going up a weight on lifting or running a distance faster.
My point is less negative more positive - smile more often and pass it on, happiness is infectious and I like feeling positive and happy.
There are so many dark things in the world, your self worth should not be defined by numbers on a scale, what a boy says to you or what others think.
There is nothing more amazing than a woman who loves herself and thinks the best of herself!
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