Have you told yourself "I love you" today? If not, go to the nearest mirror, look at your reflection, and say, "I love you." Oh, and give yourself a little hug while you're at it. See that wasn't so hard was it? Awkward, yes - but it is something we all need to do every now and then.
Society makes us aware of our imperfections. Skin commercials make us aware of our pimples, fashion models make us want to be skinny, chick flicks make us want to have that perfect relationship that we currently don't have and so on and so on....
Your skin color and condition, body shape, personal views and imperfections make you who you are: beautiful and imperfect in every way. And remember, you already said love yourself, right?
In order to be your best self, you must love the skin you are in. Loving you body is not an easy thing to do, but then again, nothing worthwhile is easy. Accepting where you are and how you look right now is the first step to bettering yourself. Accept that you may have pimples; they are a sign of growing up! The media likes to say to wear a ton of makeup, or buy this really expensive acne wash because it will fix you. You can definitely work on improving yourself, and feeling great is important. However, the second you start having negative feeling towards these imperfections on your body, it’s time you need to reexamine that attitude and learn to love all your flaws!
A big factor to loving you, is to accept your body type; this goes for both men and women. The number one thing you should focus on with your body is being healthy! The media likes to tell you how you should look, how skinny you should be, how much muscle you should have. Working out, eating right and getting sleep are the healthy ways you can improve yourself; not over-dieting or starving yourself. You are with your body for a very long time, so you might as well treat it like the temple it is.
It all boils down to acceptance. The truth is if you can't accept who you are now, then how can you ever love yoursef in the future?
Finally, you must accept your beliefs and relationships everyone has with one another to fully be comfortable in the world we live in. This week we are celebrating LGBT week, which will raise awareness to stand up for the beliefs and love that others share and express.
Again, it comes down to acceptance to make this a reality. The way you think and how you view the world is what sets you apart from others. Many people want to chastise and bully others over who they are. But as a campus community, we must stop and think about how our actions and words can hurt someone else. This is the very thing that perpetuates intolerance for who or what we are and believe in.
Through our lifetime we will meet many different people and it is up to us, not to use labels that have been set decades before us. Instead we must break these
barriers, love each other for who we are, and most importantly, love ourselves.
With these three things, it is not wise to go through life with self doubt and negative feelings and thoughts, they only hold us back from ever reaching our full potential of ever reaching our desired goals.
Again, loving yourself is my best advice, and then sit back and enjoy the awesome journey ahead through this thing we call LIFE!
