How many negative thoughts have you had about yourself today?
Five? Ten? More?
Maybe your day looks something like this:
You wake up and grumble at the readout on the bathroom scale, blaming your inability to maintain any semblance of self-control when it comes to eating out. At work a friend compliments you on your weightloss/big sale/promotion, but instead of saying "Thank You", you shift the credit to "Black really is slimming"/"Ah, that guy was gonna bite anyway"/"Right place, right time". After work, you hit the gym, but instead of thinking about how much progress you've made, you watch everyone else and think how much stronger/slimmer/more flexible they are. You fall asleep thinking about what mistakes you made and what might go wrong tomorrow.
Does that sound even a little bit like you?
Do you spend your time comparing yourself to others? Do you brush off compliments? Do you spend even a few minutes a day agonizing over your flaws, either real or imagined?
Let me just say...
Stop it!
You're worth so much more than that!
I can't remember who, but someone said that comparing yourself to someone else is like "Comparing your bloopers to someone else's highlight reel." (Know who said this? Let me know in the comments below.) This quote was originally about those who compare their life to what they see on their friends' Facebook pages, but it's really not limited to social networking sites. This is true in every part of our life.
It doesn't have to be this way.
It is possible to accept compliments and to truly believe them.
It is possible to accept your flaws as tiny pieces of a beautiful puzzle, because without them, you'd be left with holes in an unfinished piece of art.
It is possible to compare yourself only to yourself.
And it all starts with love.
Today, I want you to look in the mirror and say "I love you."
Today, I want you to feed yourself food that says to your body "I love you."
Today, I want you to hang out with people that make it easy for you love yourself.
And right now, I want you to repeat after me...
"Today, I shall love myself."
Photo by Jeff Kubina
