Being healthy doesn’t always concern your physical state, but also your mental state. One of the healthiest thoughts you can have is loving yourself.
Accept the person you are, whether it be your body, your personality or your interests. Get to know yourself because, only then, will you truly understand the person you are and if that is the same as who you want to be.
I would love to say self-love is easy, and while it may be for some people, it took me a long time to be comfortable with the person I am now.
It started with something as minor as height. When I was younger, people would point out my height and call me nicknames. For a while, it affected me. I would slouch whenever I walked so as to not attract attention and avoided high heels at all costs. After I developed one insecurity, it led to the next, and then more.
A couple of years passed and no one pointed out things about me anymore, but it didn’t matter because the things already said, the insecurities I built, stuck with me.
There was a time in my life when I closed myself from others. The only people I confided in were my parents and brother. I would go to school and then straight home, where I could shut myself in my room and watch movies to avoid thinking about the bad days.
I had a lot of time to think about the kind of person I was then and the kind I wanted to be. I didn’t want to be a sad person. I wanted to love myself.
I realized that everyone has negative thoughts. Everyone has at least one thing they feel insecure about. We’re not perfect and that’s OK.
Instead of keeping myself shut, I made the decision to be proud of who I am and stop hiding all the things I love. The things I like, the music I listen to, the attitude I wear when I walk out the door all make up the person I am. The road to self-love was hard for me but I think I can say I’m there, or at least I’m trying.
Once you are comfortable with yourself, help others learn to love themselves. You might think you’re the only one struggling with accepting who you are but that is not true. There are times when you don’t notice your good qualities until someone else points them out. If you need that, then others could, too.
When others dislike something about us, it is easier to brush it off than when we’re the ones bringing ourselves down. That is why it is so important to be comfortable in your own skin.
Sometimes we fail to realize how important our view of ourselves is to our mental health. As hard as it might seem, try to learn self-love and what that means to you.
