1. Recognize it!
The first and possibly most important thing to do is
to recognize the voice inside your head that does the comparing. You know who I mean right? That annoying voice that ends up telling you
you’re ugly, stupid, pudgy, or worse. Now you
may think to yourself, “What? I don’t talk that way to myself,” but I urge you
to listen. Some of you may be shocked
when you hear some of the hateful things you are telling yourself on a regular
basis.
You will likely start to notice that some of the
things you tell yourself are so mean that if a friend of yours told you the
same, you would probably want nothing to do with them. Think about that! You are allowing your own inner voice to
berate and humiliate you on a daily basis, but if a friend told you the same,
you would never put up with it. Well,
don’t put up with it now!
2. Write it down!
What are your strengths? What are you proud of? What is your favorite color at the moment? Or
do you have many? What is something you
really enjoy doing? What are you
grateful for? What qualities do you
possess that make you you? Have fun with the questions and come up with
some of your own. By focusing on who you
are and perhaps, who you would like to become, you will start to feel more
comfortable in your skin and your self-esteem will increase significantly.
3. Listen up!
Make it a point to listen to your inner voice when
you’re flipping through a magazine or watching a movie. What kind of things are you telling
yourself? Are you comparing yourself to
a celebrity? If so, recognize the
comment and let it go. No need to berate
yourself or judge yourself for being cruel.
Just notice the comment and let it go.
This exercise will have a huge impact on your self-esteem in the long
run. Practice it enough and you will
soon be doing it without even thinking, squashing that negative chatter before
it has a chance to effect you.
At the end of the day, we all have insecurities and
there are moments when we feel bad about the way we look. It’s okay to feel bad from time to time, but
feeling bad on a daily basis will cause you more pain and grief in the
end. Why waste your energy feeling down
when you have so many things to celebrate?
Who you are reveals so much more than a reflection in a mirror, so focus
on becoming the person you want to be and less on worrying about what others
see.
Copyright
© 2015 by Maggie Steele
