Continuing To Love Yourself
Picking up from the conversation in my last blog and my video with the lovely ladies at PATH Nutrition… I hinted that I am going to focus on “LOVE yourself.” Well the secret is out, it does, but in order to focus on my LOVE yourself movement, let’s peel back the layers and get to the root of the issue. This is really about negative body image and why so many women (and I’m sure men) struggle with this issue. For some reason this topic keeps coming up in my world and it’s really tugging at my heartstrings. It’s come up so much that I’m here writing about it so we can dive into the meat of the issue.
Why is this so prevalent for women? No matter what shape, size, age, demographic, emotional baggage do we beat ourselves up over our bodies? Why is our body never good enough? Is it our culture, upbringing, magazines, social media, filters, peers, Hollywood…what is it? Whatever it is, it’s NONSENSE!!!!! Why haven’t we focused on being kind to ourselves? Why do we let the negative emotions take over? SO.MANY.QUESTIONS!!!!
Now I’m not saying that we should eat whatever and dump all over our bodies. I definitely prescribe to the mindset that our bodies are our temples and I want to live the healthiest version of myself. I think there is a balance between being unhealthy either side of the spectrum…eating whatever/not exercising VS. watching every single calorie and working out like a crazy person. Balance is the key word here. And achieving that balance is something that I personally have to work on daily. It’s a choice that is important to me.
We need to flip the conversation to embrace our bodies and LOVE ourselves with a healthy mindset. So let’s focus on POSITIVE Body Image vs the negative body image. I want to continue to infuse positive healthy thoughts into everyone I come across. It’s important to invest in ourselves. Often times we invest in clothes, cars, houses, other people, trips…. we think these things will make us happy. “If I buy all the fancy clothes, I will be happy.” “If I can drive my dream car, then I will be happy.” “If I travel the world, then I will definitely be happy.” We can spend a fortune and spin our wheels trying to find happiness yet somehow overlook looking within to find that happiness. So how do we LOVE ourselves and work on finding that happiness inside? I’m sharing my suggestions that focus on positive body image but they also could apply to other aspects of your life.
5 TIPS ON A HEALTHY POSITIVE MINDSET:
STOP the comparison game!!!
o Comparison robs JOY and we don’t know someone’s health based on size.
o I will compare myself to myself only for the purpose of self-improvement. I always want to do better for myself…. not others!!!
Why focus on size/shape and not what’s healthy/strong?
o Let’s shift our mindsets to spend our energy on what’s a healthy & strong version of ourselves.
o You can practice this by anytime you start to nit pic your body immediately tell yourself something that is healthy/strong about yourself. Again, this is a choice and you can create a healthy habit if you practice this.
Visualizing the future you and how to wear the pieces now
o We don’t need to wait until we lose 10 pounds (or whatever your “goal weight” is) to treat ourselves to new clothes.
o Invest in yourself now so you can feel like the BEST most positive version of yourself now.
Practice Gratitude
o It seems natural to focus on all the things you want when you are someone that wants to constantly grow and do better. However, I find it is so.very.important to practice gratitude and to be thankful for what you have in order to achieve your goals.
o Personally, I think gratitude should be part of all of our foundation if you want to create a healthy positive mindset in loving yourself.
Surround yourself with positive minded and positive body image peeps. Confident people!!!
o I personally gravitate towards people that are healthy but also achieve that health with balance.
o It’ okay to want to change shape or not but it’s how you think about it all that counts. Let me give you a hint: positive, loving, kind words only.
Learn more about PATH Nutrition HERE
With Love and Grace,
Elizabeth