How you feel about yourself is one of the key factors in living a fulfilling life. If you do not feel good about yourself, it is going to be hard to live a happy and secure life. More than that, you will not feel motivated to do any of the things that you want to do. This can be a real problem if you have set big goals for your life.
Depression is a fitting example of how a negative view of yourself can affect your life. If you suffer from depression, you might feel bad about who you are and what your life is like. This can result in you becoming stagnant and not improving your situation because you do not feel good about the person that you have become.
Did you know that In the United States, about 16 million adults suffer from depression?
So How do You Start to Feel Good About Yourself?
The first thing you will need to do is start associating positive feelings with your self-image. For many people, it is easy to associate negative feelings with their self-image. For example, when they look in the mirror and they see that they have gained a few extra pounds, or if they see that their skin tone is not perfect, this makes them feel bad about themselves.
After a while it becomes a vicious cycle: Each time you associate negative feelings with your self-image, you end up not feeling good about yourself. This makes it hard for you to do things that make you feel good about yourself and your self-image.
It is important to break this cycle.
Meditation is a safe way to overcome this spiral. Meditation is all about clearing the mind and forgetting about the negative things in your life for a while, and just focusing on yourself. You do not need to meditate long. Ten minutes per day is a good start and think of it as investing in yourself.
Accepting Yourself
The first step to feeling good about yourself is to accept yourself for who you are. You can start this by not comparing yourself with others or allowing their success to overshadow your own achievements.
If other people are achieving success and happiness in their lives, it does not mean that they are better people than you or have less flaws than you do. It just means that they happen to go into life down a different road than the one you chose for yourself and they had different skill sets from the ones you have – which is fine!
How Do I Feel Better About Myself?
Exercise is one of the best ways to feel better about yourself. Exercise can help you lose weight and make your skin look healthier. Exercise also helps make you feel more energetic, stronger, and it can help you sleep better.
You can start with mild exercises like walking, jogging, and riding a bike.
After a while you can move onto tougher exercises like running sprints, working out at the gym, practicing martial arts, wrestling, or a similar intense activity.
Learn something new like yoga to push yourself into new situations.
It is important to track progress over time so that you can have a sense of accomplishment as well as more motivation for continuing with your healthy habits.
It is also important to find the right exercise routine for you because this will lead to better health outcomes in general (as opposed to being unmotivated through a gruelling routine).
The second step is:
Taking Care of Yourself
Taking care of yourself can take different forms. The first, and most major step, is to make sure that you eat healthy, get enough sleep, and do exercise every day.
Also check your thoughts, because the way that you think about yourself is going to have an enormous impact on your self-image and your happiness.
One important mental challenge that people need to overcome is negative self-talk. This is where you talk down to yourself in your thoughts.
The following are common examples of negative self-talk:
- I should not have made that mistake.
- I just messed up again, this time I got it right.
- This is not working out for me; I am going to fail.
If you are constantly thinking and saying things such as “I can’t do this” or “people will think that I am stupid,” then it is easy to become convinced that you are not capable of doing anything.
Fortunately, there are ways to overcome negative self-talk. By being aware of your thoughts, you will be able to catch yourself doing it and turn them into more positive statements.
For example, instead of saying “I can’t do this job” you could tell yourself, “I might not know how to do this job, but I am willing to learn.”
Appreciating Yourself as a Person
Remember that you have abilities, and that you are unique. There is no other person on earth exactly like you.
This may sound like a cliché, but it is essential to your self-acceptance. Never forget that you are special just as you are. You do not need to change your personality to make other people happy. You are perfect the way you are.
Friendship circles play a crucial role in how you feel about yourself. Having a network of positive friends will encourage you to be more open. By sharing your thoughts and experiences, you will feel more at ease in communication.
Having a friendship circle that is negative will have the opposite effect. This can have a depressing effect and can make your self-esteem low.
This may be why people with bad friendships are more likely to suffer from depression.
So, evaluate your friendship circles today, it will enhance your life.
Understanding Personal Power and Self-Affirmations
Personal power means you have the power to exercise choice. To be self-directed. To be in control of your life.
It is a signal flag that says, “I make my own choices.” And its shorthand for “I choose myself.” The person at the center of their life, where there is no one else.
The slogan of personal power is this: Be yourself – not what others tell you to be.
Why would anybody trade personal power? It is free and it comes with special powers:
- Self-confidence
- Self-esteem
- Self determination
Conclusion
Feeling good is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Positive feelings will make you more productive and help you feel happy in your life. People will like you because of your positive energy.
We all have problems with ourselves. No one is perfect. We need to remember that we are all humans, and we will make mistakes. However, we also have the power to correct those mistakes and turn our life around so we can create the best life possible for ourselves.