Do You Like Yourself?
"It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not." - Unknown
Do you wake up and say, "I'm so happy to be me?" Or, do you look in the mirror and not like what you see? This may be the number one issue I deal with that causes the biggest loss of self-esteem and self-worth.
Someone once told me that she can't think of one good thing about herself. To some of you, this may be hard to believe, but the level of self loathing in our society is out of control.
We could start with the pressure the fashion industry puts on our young women and how it makes Plus Size women feel about themselves.
But, it goes much deeper than what society does to us. It's about what we do to ourselves through our own distorted view of ourselves and how we incessantly beat ourselves up.
The self abuse goes anywhere from I'm too fat, my hands are ugly, I'm worthless, I'm stupid, I'm ugly, I'm a loser, I'm this, I'm that and on and on. It is so sad to hear someone beating the living crap out of themselves when they really don't deserve it.
Many times people view themselves through the eyes of others, particularly their partner. When you are with someone who constantly belittles you, demeans you and disrespects you, not only is this a clear sign of low self-esteem, but it perpetuates this insidious cycle because you buy into this pack of lies.
So, the question becomes how do you begin to like yourself? How do you find at least one good thing about yourself and start from there?
First of all, you begin by eliminating toxic people in your life who make you feel bad about yourself. Oh I know, that's the problem, you already are feeling bad and you can't pull away from these lovely individuals.
But, if you don't start somewhere, and this is a good starting point, then don't expect your view to change.
One woman told me that her husband constantly puts her down, he even told her that her hands were ugly! I told her to imagine if she didn't have any hands (and some people don't). How good do they look to you now?
It's all about starting from a point of being appreciative and grateful for what you do have. You may not like the shape of your legs but at least you have legs!
Come on people, you have so many blessing staring your right in the face and you choose to focus on your self-imposed or imagined flaws.
Or, you choose to buy into another person's opinion of you. And, the only reason they put you down is to either make themselves feel good about themselves because they are so insecure, or to ensure that if you feel bad enough about yourself you won't leave them.
If I were to ask the people who love you what they thought your good points are and why they love you, are you honestly going to tell me that there isn't one thing they would say that is good about you?
Start from their perspective, your real friends and family sees you for who you truly are. Write down your five favorite things about your life that you are grateful for and then add to them each day.
Begin to look for the good, the abundance, the love, the beauty and all of the things in life that surround you everyday which you may be taking for granted.
You have so much in your life that you have to be thankful for and instead you dwell on what you feel you lack which is self-limiting, not to mention wasted negative energy.
Embrace the gifts that you have been given. Stop allowing yourself to be the victim of self abuse or others abuse. Take each day and learn to appreciate yourself a little bit more and when you do, that person looking back at you in the mirror won't look so bad after all.
Learning to love and appreciate yourself is the best gift you can give to yourself and when you do, the next time someone tries to put you down they won't know what hit them when the door kicks them in the you know what on their way out!
by: Susan Russo
Make Custom Greeting Cards Yourself Payday Loans Self Employed: Wipe Out Financial Pitfalls On Time Anatomy of a Self Assessment Self Defense And Its Weapons 5 Boxing Fitness Secrets For Beginners Giving Yourself Some Financial Freedom Find Originality With A Self-designed T-shirt Self-hypnosis For Healing Forex Trading - Which Technical Indicators Are Good For Beginners? Guide to Using the Right Self Storage Rental Company How To Unlock Wii Yourself How To Make Your Stress Disappear With Self Hypnosis Site Improvement Expenses Portion three - Estimated Actual World Costs