LEARNING TO LOVE YOURSELF

From my early teenage years until the past year I always struggled to love myself and accept me for who I am. Comparing myself to others and hating on all my flaws was pretty much a daily thing but this year I've finally learnt to love my imperfections, and love myself inside and out. In this day and age, personal image has become a huge aspect to everyone's daily routine. Wherever you look the media have portrayed their perception of the "perfect" women or man which puts pressure on a lot of us. I know many of you, like I, work on self image for self happiness and to be the best you can be. But some people still may find this difficult, like I did while growing up.

Stupid and negative comments would convince me to change the way I looked just because someone "didn't like what I'd done to my hair" or "how I applied my make up". But eventually I'd learnt to block out all these negative comments and be how I wanted to be and do what I wanted to do. Learning to love yourself in most cases is just a learning process, I'd always come across blog posts and YouTube videos on how to do this and agree with every word they'd say but I could never apply it to myself. Saying this, I found that these tips definitely helped me to eventually be happy with who I am.

1 - Don't compare yourself with others. This is a tricky one but probably the one thing that has helped me overcome my negative thoughts. Being able to look at other people and admiring things about them instead of comparing yourself to them really did help. It lets you accept others and not become envious which definitely helps accepting yourself.

2 - Accepting flaws. For me personally, I have always wanted a smaller nose and to lose a stone or two. But if it wasn't for these what we call 'flaws' we wouldn't be who we are today, unique. I used to spend days pointing out areas about myself I hated, but why? All I achieved from this was getting myself down and end up eating my body weight in food. Definitely not a good start to achieving my goals! If you're guilty of doing this sometimes, once in a while when you find yourself moaning about the way you look, take this time to admire something you love about yourself and remember what's inside matters most.

 3 - Don't put pressure on yourself. Setting goals and working towards something is definitely something we should all do, the feeling that you've achieved something is probably one of the most amazing feelings you can feel and it definitely helps appreciating yourself and taking time to look at the hard work you have accomplished. Whether it's reaching 500 blog followers or graduating with a first. By breaking up goals into smaller, more manageable goals, you will make them more achievable and will definitely help you in where you want to be resulting in a happier you.

4 - Take time to breath. When times get a bit tough and busy, we end up running around and not thinking about our mental well-being. Whether you have school or work deadlines make sure you give yourself enough time to take a break and de-stress just to remember why you're doing what you're doing.   

5 - Explore. I recently saw an Instagram post that quoted "Travel while you're young and able. Don't worry about the money, just make it work. Experience is far more valuable than money will ever be." Making sure you spend either your weekend off or a weeks holiday exploring the outdoors and being with the people you love will definitely help you gain happiness! Of course we're all allowed our nights in wrapped up with a pizza watching Bridesmaids, but trying something new and exciting will help you feel so much better about yourself.

6 - Do favours. I've found that by helping others and not expecting anything in return definitely shows your kindness from within. It gives you the feeling of worthiness and accomplishment, making you gain happiness from the inside which will show on the outside!

I hope this post has helped some of you out there, and remember if you do struggle with finding it difficult to accept who you are, you are not alone!

Love,