A Healthy Self-Esteem

So let's talk about self-esteem.

How do you rate your self-esteem? Do you love yourself? Do you value yourself? Can you look at yourself at the mirror and think: I love myself the way I am & I wouldn't change anything about me?

If you can't, you might have a very poor opinion about yourself. But do not panic! These things can be worked out. But first you need to accept your very own self.

Sure, we all have flaws. Little things that make us imperfect. But these things prove to us that we are human. They prove to us that we are alive and we are not in some dream or fantasy, meaning we make our own choices and we make our own path.

Reminding yourself that you are human means giving yourself a little break. Telling yourself: Yeah, my hair is not perfectly straight or perfectly wavy, but that's ok.

Having a low self-esteem can sometimes lead us to find the approval of other people, and

become emotionally unstable. According to the Mayo Clinic, a low self-esteem can cause a person to:

• Think others are better
• Take criticism badly
• Focus on their flaws
• Not value their own opinions
• Give themselves few credit for their accomplishments
• Think they are not good enough
• Be insecure about their own decisions

On the contraire, people with a healthy self-esteem:

• Recognize they deserve other people's respect
• Have a good opinion about themselves
• Have confidence in their own skills and their decisions
• Recognize they are worthy
• Loves themselves, along with their imperfections

Your mental health is one of THE most important things. With a good mental health, life is much more inviting. Therefore having a healthy self-esteem is necessary!

Here are a few things you could do to start accepting yourself and feel good about yourself. Just remember, accepting yourself with all your imperfections is a process, not something that happens in an hour.

1. Talk to yourself with love. Look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself good things. Tell yourself that you are enough. If you need to have morning sessions with yourself do it. If you need to do it every few hours during the day, do it! Do whatever you find fit in order to love yourself. The first step to self-acceptance is treating yourself right. If you constantly call yourself fat, ugly, worthless, etc. you'll never fall in love with yourself, as cheesy as that may sound.

2. Whenever you succeed at something, treat yourself! You won't do good if you keep thinking you could have done better or thinking: " Yeah, I mean I did it but...I feel like I could've done better.." You did your best and next time you'll do better. But right now, you did great. Give yourself a pat on the back! You deserve it.

3. Dance or sing in front of the mirror and record yourself. I know what your thinking. NO WAY. I'm a horrible dancer or singer. I would never record myself doing something like that. Well that's the idea. You need to feel good about yourself in every way. Record yourself and then watch it. Laugh at yourself and have fun with yourself! You don't need to be good for someone else or funny for someone else, just for yourself.

4. Don't ask for other's approval. Whenever you go out, take a picture, or do something yourself don't ask others if they think if it's good or pretty. You make your own definition of beautiful. If you like or enjoy something, like say a specific outfit, do it. This  can help you become independent of other opinions. In the end, if you are secure about yourself you should have the confidence of making your own decisions.

Photo taken from: http://www.brightboldbeautiful.com/
2012/10/22/monday-inspiration-17/

5. Give up on perfectionism. Wanting to be perfect can affect the way you look at yourself. Learn that you'll never be perfect but that's ok. We all have flaws and there is nothing wrong with that; it's what makes us, us. Besides, what's fun about being perfect? Nothing. It must be a boring life.

6. Be realistic with your expectations. Sometimes having really high expectations can make us feel like we failed when we don't accomplish them and therefore we punish ourselves for it. Be more realistic, therefore you'll actually accomplish things and feel good about it when you do!

7. Find out what you don't love about yourself and work with that. For example if you have problems with your physical appearance focus on accepting that part. If you have issues with your life accomplishments, focus on those. If you don't identify what you need to fix first you'll be walking blind!

I hope these tips help! Remember these things take time but they are not impossible! Sometimes the vision we have of ourselves can be the source of other problems in our life. So, if low self-esteem is something you recognize, work with it first and other aspects of your life might fix themselves along the way!

xoxo

N