Its that time of year again, when our thoughts turn to love and romance. Valentine's Day is traditionally thought of as the time of year to declare and share your love with a significant other, but what about Loving Yourself. Might it also be a good time to think about the love you have or perhaps don't have for yourself and your body?
For many ladies the idea of Loving Yourself sounds very odd...perhaps even stupid, dirty, selfish etc etc There can be many reasons for this, but one of the most common that we have encountered is that many women don't like the body they are in. They have learnt to not only dislike their body but to actively hate it.
From a young age women are taught to dislike their bodies, we are fed a media diet of unrealistic and unhealthy health and beauty ideals and made to feel inadequate, guilty and ashamed.
So how can you begin to Love Yourself when you feel sure that such a big part of you is just wrong!! This can keep women locked in a vicious cycle of wishing and wanting things to be different, even hating the skin they are in.
Life is too short to dislike the person you are or the body you have. It's time for a new approach. It's time to Love Yourself.
Loving Yourself is not about having the perfect body, it's about being able to feel confident inside and out. It's about accepting where you are now and making peace with your body so that you can achieve the body, health and wellbeing that you want and deserve.
And don't get me wrong this has nothing to do with size, shape or weight.
This is about perception. Whether you are a size 0 or a size 20 you can have an unhelpful perception about your own body which in turn clouds how you feel about yourself as a person, how you view your contribution in life or even perhaps how you measure your personal success.
I am very passionate that every woman should define herself and not be dictated by the number on the scales or in the back of her sweater...nor by the media who are relentless is showing us what "perfect" looks like.
Nobody is perfect and No Body is perfect! Just recently while watching Big Brother (no judgment please!!) it was revealed that at the age of 40 Cameron Diaz was using a 19 year old bum double for a film she was in. This sort of stuff is not at all helpful to how real women of the same age then view their bum... they are comparing it to a teenagers!! This is just one small example of how woman are sent mixed and at times toxic messages about how they "should" view the female form. We say enough is enough. It is time to reclaim Love for yourself.
Our Top Three Tips for beginning this journey to Love Yourself
1. Go in a one month media fast. Ditch the glossy magazines in particular. Don't have the media dictate what your body should be like and how you should feel about it.
2. Every day for one week stand in front of your mirror and pick one thing about your appearance you like and acknowledge this to yourself out loud.
3. Ask your best friend to tell you 3 things that they love about you. Sometimes its just nice to hear what others love about you.. it can help to change your perception.
Just these three simple steps can help you to regain a sense of who you are as a woman and in time help you to accept yourself right now. You don't have to like everything but the first step to love is acceptance as then you can begin to move forward.
Wishing you much Love, Health & Happiness XXX