One of the best gifts you can give yourself it to love yourself. When you don’t feel good about yourself, you can unknowingly create a lot of problems for yourself. Your work starts to suffer, and your relationships start to suffer. After all, if you don’t feel good about yourself, how can other people? You attract what you send out. Here are some tips to help you start feeling better about yourself so that you can start living life again.
Begin by asking yourself what about yourself causes these feelings. Did something happen? Do you feel as if you did something wrong? Whatever is causing you to feel this way, focus to determine what is really bothering you. That way, you have somewhere to start.
Begin by telling yourself out loud that you forgive yourself for whatever it is and that you will accept and love yourself. Write this in a journal everyday. It will feel awkward at first and that’s normal. Look yourself in the mirror and assure yourself that you are worthy and deserve goodness and happiness in your life. If you need to, seek counsel by by seeing a therapist, or you can also do some work at home by repeating positive affirmations.
Every day list 10 positive things you do every day for yourself and others. This kind of journal may be hard to do at first, but when you can admit that you do something wonderful every day, it becomes harder to dislike yourself. Then when you are feeling down, go back through your notebook to see how much good you have done.
Break yourself from saying negative things about yourself. Even if you are angry with yourself and want to lash out at yourself, don’t! It is not healthy for you. Immediately search for something positive about yourself. For example, I struggled with weight and it took years to turn my thinking from “I’m so fat” when I looked in a mirror to “I love the way I look.” Which, by the way, took me focusing on my features I did like such as my eyes, my hair, and my smile. It takes practice but it is worth it! You are worth it!
Surround yourself with people who make you feel good about yourself. Many people have members of their own family or friends that are negative and deliberately point out perceived flaws. Limit your time with those individuals and find friends that are positive and have the outlook on life you want to live. We are all different for a reason! Wouldn’t life be boring if we all looked alike, talked alike, and behaved alike. What’s the fun in that?
Get a new look. When was the last time you fixed your hair, tried a new hairstyle even, or wore makeup for us gals. While it may seem superficial, you need to do what you can in order to start to feel better, and sometimes making a simple change physically can help. Try a new haircut or a few new outfits. You might find that you love your new look, and others may agree with you.
Learn something new. If you can take up a hobby or learn something you’ve always want to. Wow! wouldn’t that feel great to find a new past time that you enjoyed? For example, if you take up ballroom dancing, you might discover that you are excellent at the waltz or the sultry salsa; maybe you dance better than others in your class!
Learning to like yourself is something that is important in your life. You deserve to be in love with who you are! After all, you are the only person who spends every waking moment with yourself. Be your own best friend. Would you speak harshly to your best friend? Of course not, so love yourself too. Appreciate yourself and above all love yourself. You will definitely learn to feel good about yourself if you do AND you will have fun doing so in the process!
