Find a mirror right now and look at yourself. Study every intricate detail that you see on your body. Instead of seeing the good things, you are immediately drawn to what you don’t like. Maybe you see scars from a challenging time in your past. Maybe you see a little extra weight than you’d like on your midsection, or maybe you notice your skin is breaking out due to all of the stress that you’ve been under. Maybe you notice that your eyes are droopy because you just can’t catch a break.
In the 30 seconds that it took you to read that small paragraph, you were probably able to pick out each and every one of your self-proclaimed “flaws.” You probably realized that every time you look in the mirror, you feel like a prisoner trapped in your own skin. Every time you see your reflection, you see a body that you aren’t proud of.
No matter what other people say about how “beautiful” and “skinny” you are, nothing seems to change your mindset. You could have 100 people telling you that you’re beautiful and one person telling you that you’re ugly, yet that one negative comment is all that you hear. It’s almost as if you tune out the positive remarks and only listen in for the negative things that people say. Numerically, wouldn’t it make sense for us to believe those 100 people more than we believe one person who is clearly just extremely insecure? You would think so, but numbers are just numbers and they are not very representative of how we truly feel.
So you do everything you can to change. You count calories, skip meals, avoid uncomfortable situations, and stray away from wearing revealing clothing. You want to hide away from the world and exist without feeling like you are constantly being judged and under scrutiny.
When you try to make changes to yourself, you have to check that you have good intentions in mind. If you want to change the way you look, do it for yourself. As hard as that sounds, just remember this: You are your biggest advocate. At the end of the day, you have to be your biggest fan because nobody is ever going to support you in the way that you deserve. You understand yourself better than anyone in this world, so do yourself a favor and be your own best friend.
So, take care of yourself. Treat yourself in the same way that you’d treat someone you love.
It’s often difficult to change your mindset, so don’t feel like it’s wrong that you have the feelings that you’re experiencing. It’s a process trying to make peace with your mind and body, so don’t expect it to happen overnight. Work on the self-love, though; or at least give it a chance.
Take a moment to admire your most unique qualities that make you the person that you are; because there is so much that is good in you, you’re just not looking through the right pair of lenses.
