Diva

I came across this great article and thought it would be quite interesting reading for us "Minimisers" (could have written it myself! )

We all know that most people, especially women, associate self-esteem and body image into one category and think they are the same thing. This is not true. Too many of these people think badly about themselves and about their worth because they don’t like the way they look. But guess what? No one is perfect. No one will ever be perfect. Everyone has their flaws in appearance, but the key is to learn how to love yourself for who you are, not what you look like. You have probably heard many people tell you time and time again, that looks aren’t everything and that your personality is what matters the most. Guess what? They are right!! Let’s take a look at the definitions of these two words.

self-esteem
n 1: a feeling of pride in yourself 2: the quality of being worthy of esteem or respect; "it was beneath his dignity to cheat"; "showed his true dignity when under pressure”

body image
n. The subjective concept of one's physical appearance based on self-observation, and the reactions of others.

When a lot of people are feeling negative, they tend to look outside of themselves for belief of their self worth. A lot of people associate things like appearance, wealth, material goods, accomplishments, jobs, marital status, and social approval as their sense of self. All of these things are a false sense of who you really are as a person.

Think about this analogy for a minute, we accept animals for exactly as they are. We love them no matter what they look like or what they do, they just are. Animals don’t look for outside approvals, they just accept themselves for what they are. This same thing should be the way humans view themselves. Self-Esteem is established from one’s talents, qualities, character, integrity, dignity and value. You need to nurture yourself from the inside out. Start by putting yourself first!

The reasons people have self-esteem are pretty simple. They could be from the people in your life and how they treat you, any forms of abuse, and the media is a big one to blame for this. They give people these unrealistic fantasies of what the perfect body should be and it’s unattainable. Most of those celebrities you see look no different than your or I when they are not all glamoured up for the red carpet. A lot of high dollar designers and makeup artists are the ones who get credit for that. Same thing with magazines, a lot of those models are airbrushed to look perfect. An example that comes to mind is Kate Winslet’s photo shoot for the British GQ magazine. They airbrushed her legs and breasts to make them appear smaller, she almost looked anorexic. Kate was furious about this saying “"This is me. Like it or lump it. I had to starve myself for Titanic and it just wasn't me. "I'm not a twig and I refuse to be one. I'm happy with the way I am. I'm not like American film stars. I'm naturally curvy." So many people believe they can achieve these unrealistic fantasies with just one more cosmetic surgery procedure, or if they just starve themselves a little bit longer. It’s unhealthy and very damaging to your self-esteem.

You just have to start loving yourself for you who are. Stop the negative self talk and flatter yourself with positive affirmations. “I am lovable and capable”, “I accept all the different parts of myself,” “I fully accept and believe in myself just the way I am”, “My feelings and needs are important”, “I believe in my ability to succeed”. These are all great things to say to yourself over and over throughout the day, but they will only work if you believe them and believe you are worth it!

There are many things you can do for yourself to show that you are worth it. Take a nice long hot bubble bath, get a massage, buy yourself a rose, go for a scenic walk, buy new clothes, watch the sunset, rent a funny video, write yourself a love letter. They may seem a bit silly to you, but if someone else did this for you, you would be flattered. Stop depending on others to make you happy, make yourself happy for once!

__________________

DQ

Wow!!!! Incredibly timely post with so many of us kicking ourselves for 'failing' over Christmas and beating ourselves up. Nice one

__________________

flirty40greeneyes

I like this one - need to buy a new fridge just to stick all this inspirational pages i print out on!!

__________________

CDC





Start weight Oct 05 - 15.03 1 Jan 08 - 14.06
1 Nov - 14.02 12 Nov - 13.7 -9

Seniormum

Thank a mil for that its all so true I start off great burst of energy/enthusiasm in the morning but by afternoon all the thoughts of how many times I have failed come back and I give out so much to myself and convince myself I am not able to do it only to reach for food to cheer myself up....and then give out again for reaching for the food,it is vicious circle that is very hard to break. I got a hypnosis tape years ago (that I must find!!) and the one line that sticks in my mind is "give yourself a big mental hug.....you are wonderful...you deserve it" and that line brings such a good feeling its incredible

__________________
Angie

to lose long trek

I have just cut and pasted the quoted comments to my notes and plan to put it on my fridge and another copy on my bedroom mirror. Great post and thank you for sharing that.

Di