Today I’m joined by Sedija Lejiete from Sedija Lejiete Brand who’d like to help us increase our self-love levels! Their blog is about inspiring others to look at life, people, and most importantly, themselves in a positive way. Sedija Lejiete wanted me to let you know that everything stated in this blog post is based on her own experience & opinions. Over to you Sedija Lejiete…
We are very fortunate to live in a time where self-love is a popular topic constantly discussed on social media. However, with so many different opinions and beauty standards, it can be hard to understand what steps to take towards starting your own self-love journey.
The meaning of self-love
Self-love begins when you observe your actions and words with compassion as if you were your own best friend.
Self-love isn’t just about doing self-care activities. It’s about creating a deeper connection with yourself as if you were your best friend, who wants nothing but the best for you. Imagine if your best friend said mean things about themself. Would you agree with them? Or would you say they must stop talking negatively and list positive things you like about them instead?
I believe you would choose the second option, but where is the support and love when you act harshly towards yourself?
If you find it hard to love yourself and start your path towards being the best version of yourself, keep reading…
3 Things That Stop You From Loving Yourself As You Are
#01 Negative Thinking and Belief Patterns
People around you and social media can have a huge impact on how you view yourself and others, especially when you are very young. We don’t even realize that we pick up other people’s perceptions of themselves as they would be our own.
Suppose you grew up with people who constantly said negative things about you and your body. In that case, these negative experiences can leave a mark on your perception of yourself – and others – and result in negative self-talk and negative beliefs about self-love.
How to improve your mindset:
● The first step, find the reason why it is hard for you to love and accept yourself as you are. Write down anything that has negatively impacted your self-esteem in the past. Dive as deep as you need so that you can find the main issue and start resolving it.
● Find positive ways to deal with it – experiment with wellness activities, talk to a specialist, or start doing more things that have made you feel good in yourself in the past.
● Get rid of anything that makes you feel negative about yourself and your body. For example, unfollow social media accounts that negatively affect your self-esteem and start to follow accounts that inspire you to see the beauty within yourself and your body.
#02 Following The Beauty Standards
You have probably seen the “Glow up” trend – which seemed like a fun idea – transforming into the better version of yourself. But my issue with this trend was, it focused on changing your appearance rather than doing the inner work.
It seemed like a ”Glow up” journey had a beauty standard that most people followed. Giving an impression that to transform into your confident self, you must change the way you look.
Changing your appearance can be fun and give you a short-term confidence boost, but in reality, it doesn’t work long term. It’s the inner work that is going to change your life and the way you perceive yourself.
How to glow up the right way
Happiness is the best glow-up, so find what makes you genuinely happy and focus on improving your inner world – it will positively affect your external world as well.
#03 Negative habits
To start your path towards self-love, you must get rid of things that are not good for you. If you are constantly engaging in negative self-talk, having negative conversations, or struggling to say no – these habits will make it difficult to do that.
It’s time to engage in activities that boosts your confidence and self-love.
Here is a list of self-love activities you can start doing now:
● Say three positive things about yourself.
● Meditate and visualize the best version of yourself.
● Pamper yourself.
I hope this post inspired you to take steps towards loving yourself!
You are more than welcome to check my socials for more inspiration to love yourself:
RELATED: How to Truly Love Yourself (In a Non-Self-Centred Way)
What do you think stops you from being the best version of yourself? Which of Sedija Lejiete’s tips do you think you could try? Whatever you’d like to say – or ask – please do. I’m happy to help and I always love to hear from you!
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