The pressure of today’s society, along with the social media’s standards, can make us forget to recognize that we are beautiful and loved. Learning to appreciate all features of our body is the first step to embarking on a journey of self-love. Embracing confidence in our own body will allow us to continue spreading love and positivity towards others. Here are five friendly tips/ideas that helped me while going through this beautiful process.
1. Write or Say Affirmations
Every day, take about fifteen minutes to write down your goals as statements that will inspire you. Writing these affirmations daily will help you believe in yourself and what you can achieve. Another option is spending that time looking in the mirror and saying those affirmations to yourself. This will encourage you to say it with pride and courage in order to become stronger.
2. Follow Body Positivity Accounts
Social media can sometimes have a really negative impact on our mental health. This can include comparing ourselves to unrealistic beauty standards set by social media influencers. An idea, that I recommend everyone do, is to follow influencers that promote body positivity and self-love on their account. This allows us to see that others are going through the same process as us.
3. Creating a Positive Space and Mindset for Yourself
All this means is to find time in the day to do something you enjoy! This can be as simple as going to get a cup of coffee, freewriting, watching a movie, or have a self-care night. Whatever the activity is, as long as it is something that genuinely makes you feel happy. This will give you something to look forward to each day, putting your mind and mental health in a positive space.
4. Find and Focus On What Makes You Happy
A hobby that takes all of your focus and energy is extremely helpful through this process. This will encourage you to do something that makes you happy while putting your time and effort into something that is important to you. For me, this activity was writing about my daily thoughts every night. This reminded me of how I was feeling throughout this journey when I looked back into my notebook.
5. Remember Having an Off Day is Okay
This will happen to all of us at some time through this process. It is important to remind yourself of all the positive aspects of self-love. The most important part is not letting this stop you from learning to love more about yourself.
This journey of self-love and body positivity will help us all learn to appreciate our individual beauty. Tag us in pictures of your self-love journey @HerCampusSJSU!