Do you love yourself?
It might sound like a silly question. But it’s an important one.
On Weightless (my body image blog on Psych Central), this week, I talked about an empowering movement called Madly In Love with ME, which empowers and educates women and girls to love themselves. I interviewed the inspiring founder of the movement, Christine Arylo, about self-love and finding the real, authentic you.
Wanting to improve yourself isn’t about thinking that you aren’t enough as you are or that you’re horrible at such and such or that you’re in need of dramatic, desperate improvement. It’s about accepting yourself as you are right now, and more than that, it’s about loving yourself. It’s about taking great care of yourself and listening to your needs. And finding the real you.
A few quotes from my interview with Christine that struck me:
- Self-love is the unwavering, unconditional love and respect that you have for yourself that is so deep and solid that you only put yourself into situations and relationships (including the one you have with yourself) that reflect that same unconditional love and respect.
- While you will continue to learn about yourself forever, self-love requires that a. You make a choice to continue to learn about you every day, b. You know and can articulate at least these four things about yourself: your dreams, gifts, values and beliefs. c. You know who you are NOT, as well as who you are.
Self-improvement is about finding and becoming the real you. The potential you that gets squashed down inside. The you who you aren’t yet free enough or brave enough or strong enough or experienced enough to be.
Self-improvement means enjoying your life more. Yes, of course there’ll be tough patches along the way – where you work on developing self-discipline, or where you learn the hard way that being busy destroys your creativity. But, on the whole, it’s supposed to be an adventure. It’s not supposed to be a life-sapping neverending list of things to do.
So when you’re thinking about all the things you’d like to improve, also consider the importance of accepting yourself, and more than that, loving yourself.
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Thanks for the link! It always puts a big smile on my face when people think something that I’ve said is worth quoting.
Lovely post, and I particular agree with you that loving yourself is a huge part of a confident body image. (Something I’m still working on a bit myself…)
Ali, your blog is awesome (the entire thing is worth quoting!
). It’s incredibly helpful and relatable, too. Many times I feel like you’re telling my story, and speaking directly to my concerns, if that makes sense. Which to me is an important sign of an excellent blog. And something I hope I do for readers once I publish more posts on this blog.
I think self-acceptance and loving yourself are ongoing processes. Same with living a healthy lifestyle. Each day is another day for us to be active, eat healthfully and take good care of ourselves. I write about body image on Weightless, but I’m constantly working on mine. Same with my self-image and things I’d like to improve.
Thanks again for stopping by. You absolutely made my day, too!