Self love. The most important kind.
This is it, the very last tip in my Christmas Countdown.
This is a hard one to name and can be an even harder one to stick to, but it’s necessary for good health (and good looks in my opinion)!
Love yourself
In the words of Buddha “You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”
It’s so easy in this age of social media and clever advertising to judge ourselves against others, or at least our perception of what other’s lives look like. In order to be really happy we need to accept every part of ourselves; the good, the bad and the ugly. As much as I find it hard to make friends with my cellulite, after years of really not liking my legs, I can now at least appreciate them for their strength.
Now, I’m no guru and I can be my own worst enemy sometimes, but I know how important it is to take time to nourish your relationship with yourself. I sometimes say to my friends if they’re being hard on themselves, to approach any matter as though you’re dealing with your beloved child. If your child said they felt ugly, how would you respond? If your child said they felt inadequate, how would your respond? I reckon it’s a good little trick to remind ourselves how wonderful we really are.
Here’s a little ‘checklist’ for us (yup, me too) to keep ourselves on track!
- Feed your body the food it deserves, even if it takes more time or costs more
- Get plenty of sleep
- Find an exercise that you enjoy and do it regularly
- Make time for the stuff that makes you happy and say ‘no’ to anything that makes you unhappy
- Stop comparing. You’ve got no idea what’s really going on in peoples’ lives and remember social media is just a highlights reel
- Don’t judge. What other people do is none of your business. Just as what people say about you, is none of your business
- Be kind to others
- Invest in friendships. Have at least one good friend who nourishes you and makes you feel at peace
- Explore the world as much as you can, even if that just means taking a different route around the local park
- Care less about how you look and how much you weigh and spend more time reminding yourself about how amazing your body is
- Quieten the critical internal dialogue that tells you you’re not good enough
- Be prepared to make an idiot of yourself every now and then, nobody’s perfect!
- Be grateful for your blessings in life
- Set goals that you want to achieve and work towards them
