Loving yourself starts from understanding your body image, how you see yourself, and how you feel inside your own body. Many young people struggle with low self-esteem, body dissatisfaction, and even disordered eating because they don’t understand how powerful the mind is. So let’s talk about it in clear sentence, with real examples that make sense in the real world.
Sometimes, you look in the mirror and you could immediately tell everything you don’t like. Your stomach. Your face. Your height. Your body shape. Your skin. Your teeth. I know that feeling, I know that small voice that keeps telling you you’re not enough. If it gets too loud, it can turn into a mental health condition like body dysmorphic disorder, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or extreme self-consciousness. These things don’t always start dramatically. Sometimes they start gradually, like always comparing your body to that of someone you meet at the office. But thing is, you were never meant to look like anyone else. And you don’t need to hate yourself while trying to learn to love yourself.
Self love is the foundation of a happy and fulfilling life. It’s more than just a buzzword, it’s the daily practice of accepting, appreciating, and caring for yourself, even on the days when you feel less than perfect. When you choose self love, you’re making a commitment to prioritize your own needs, desires, and happiness, which is essential for building self esteem, confidence, and overall well being.
Practicing self love means tuning into your own self talk and challenging those negative voices in your head. Instead of letting self criticism run the show, you can start to replace it with self compassion and kind words. This shift not only helps you feel better about yourself, but also lays the groundwork for healthy relationships with others. When you treat yourself with the same kindness and respect you’d offer a friend, you create a more loving relationship with yourself.
Incorporating self love into your daily life can be as simple as taking a few moments each day for self care, even if is enjoying a quiet cup of tea, journaling, or just pausing to breathe and check in with yourself. Remember, self love is a journey, not a destination. Every small act of self acceptance and self care adds up, helping you build confidence and a positive self image that supports your well being for life.
Body image is simply how you see your body, not how others see you. Two people can have the same body shape, but have different perspective about how they look. One can think, “I look good,” while the other thinks, “I look terrible.” This tells you that the problem is not always your body, sometimes its the way your mind has been trained to see it.
there are things that can actually influence how you define beauty, for instance social media, friends, TV, and even casual jokes. once your mind absorbs a particular standard of beauty, like too many perfect bodies, with time, you will begin to feel like you are not good enough. And that’s where body dissatisfaction begins, and if it not handled early, it can lead to disordered eating, extreme dieting, or an unhealthy pressure to change your appearance.
The truth is, most body image struggles are not always obvious, you might never know because they sneak in quietly. The examples below are clear signs of body struggle we see in our world today.
Sometimes you walk past a mirror and quickly turn away, or you refused taking pictures at events, not because you hate pictures, but because you hate how you think you look in them. This is a clear sign of self-consciousness and body dissatisfaction.
Source: Pinterest
Source: Pinterest
Maybe every time you see someone online, especially your top rated celebrities. One thing that is flawless about the internet and specifically social media is how it’s crafted to create a highly edited version of reality, where every girl appears to have the ideal ‘life and figure’ you occasionally dreamt about. What you don’t realize is that your self-image is affected by the high exposure to unrealistic and filtered images. Thanks to the likes of Instagram and TikTok, it’s a freeway access to come across these sorts of images, making self care essential to maintain a healthy self-image.
Social media influencers often promote seemingly perfect lives to you, but it’s important to remember that these are strictly showbiz. A lot of what goes on there is manipulated and crafted just so they have extra cash in their pockets. The world behind the screen is purely like yours, if not worse. The temptation to keep up with social media trends may cause you to question your own unique beauty. Reminding yourself that what makes up real life is diverse can help you learn how to love yourself more.
Treat yourself with the same kindness and compassion that you would extend to a friend during difficult times.
This shows up in small ways. For example;
These feelings can slowly lead to low self-esteem, sadness, anxiety, or even eating disorders.
You may not understand how connected everything is, but poor body image can lead to anxiety, depression, mood swing, social withdrawal, over exercising, starving yourself, poor eating habit. Sometimes people can develop eating disorders as a coping mechanism because they believe changing their body will fix their emotional pain. But it never works that way.
When you begin to feel a deep discomfort with your body maybe because it doesn’t match how you feel inside, that can be a symptom of gender dysphoria. It’s a sensitive topic, but it still fits within the reality of body-related mental struggles. An understanding of these connections helps you realize that self-love is not just emotional, it is a mental health priority.
Source: Pinterest
The body positivity movement started because people were tired of unrealistic beauty standards. The movement teaches you that everybody deserves respect, no matter the size, colour, or shape. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t improve yourself, it simply means you are allowed to love yourself while improving.
Once we’ve constantly fed our minds with these unattainable standards, the influence it has over us is that it covers our eyes to our sense of beauty and makes us feel self-conscious about the way we look. When you browse through social media quite often, You have a high tendency of falling into the “comparison trap“. Here you tend to assess or evaluate yourself based on the perfectly created life, and bodies of other people.
A useful technique that can help boost your self-worth is to allow yourself to embrace positive affirmations. I know your mind is already going toward “Here they come again, these motivational speakers” but then, let’s face it, affirmations are a real game changer.
However, The focus is more on us using these affirmations for ourselves. To do that, we’d have to make sure these affirmations stick to our minds. You could place them in spots where you can’t avoid them. For example, Your phone’s lock screen or you could just paste them on your bathroom mirror. The fact that you’d get to keep looking at these words can lay an imprint in your heart that can alter the definition of how you see yourself. For instance, When the thought of “I don’t like my legs” comes, fire back with, “My legs are strong and capable, and they deserve their fan club!” It is one of the sure paths of learning how to love yourself.
Recognizing what makes you feel positive can significantly enhance your self-love and overall well-being.
The game changer here is celebrating every little victory along the way. Whether you’re flaunting a new outfit acknowledging small wins, it can charge up your self-confidence in no time. The hidden secret you should know is that each positive affirmation you give to yourself is like a tiny victory dance for your self-esteem. So, go ahead and dance like no one’s watching (and if they are, just give them a wink!).
In addition to the systems you’ve placed within, you’d also need to surround yourself with people who think you’re amazing just the way you are (and aren’t shy about telling you so). These are the people who’ll hype you up when you’re feeling down and less motivated with your self-affirmations. They will help you learn how to be in love with yourself by surrounding you with positive energy. It’ll really be difficult to keep up with the positive affirmations if all of your circle is filled with the opposite.
Developing a loving relationship with yourself is essential for self-love. This involves self-care, self-compassion, and self-awareness, which are crucial for emotional well-being and overall happiness.
When you have yourself surrounded by these kinds of people, you shouldn’t be shy about letting them know what you need. If it’s a pep talk, a hug, or just someone to laugh with over the absurd beauty standards out there, your support network is certainly there to help.
Source: Pinterest
Accepting yourself doesn’t have to be a difficult thing to do. One of the starting points should be, wearing clothes that give you a sense of comfort and confidence. You’ll feel better about yourself when you dress to flaunt your best characteristics.
Recognize and appreciate your excellent attributes and strengths. Turn your attention from the shortcomings you perceive to the qualities that set you apart and are remarkable. Set clear boundaries. Positive affirmations as discussed earlier should already take the place of negative self-talk. When you notice yourself being judgemental, change your focus to the positive aspects of who you are.
To wrap up, loving yourself is not something you master in a day. It’s a daily choice, a quiet promise you make to yourself every morning when you wake up. Some days you’ll feel amazing, and other days you’ll look in the mirror and feel unsure, and that’s okay. You’re human, and being human means learning, growing, and healing one step at a time. What matters most is that you never give up on yourself. Your body has carried you every single day of your life, through stress, laughter, heartbreak, joy, sickness, and growth. It deserves your kindness, not your anger. It deserves compassion, not criticism. It deserves love, not shame.
And even when you don’t feel confident, even when you struggle with your body image or feel self-conscious, I want you to remember, your worth was never tied to your appearance. Not your weight, not your skin, not your shape, not your height, not your flaws, none of it. You are more than a body. You are a story, a voice, a soul, a light. You are allowed to take up space, to be soft, to grow at your own pace.
You are allowed to love yourself loudly or quietly, but never stop loving yourself. So take it one moment at a time. Choose clothes that make you feel good. Speak kindly to yourself. Surround yourself with people who celebrate you. Feed your mind with positivity. Move your body with joy. And when the world tries to convince you that you must look a certain way to be valuable, remind yourself that beauty is not a single shape, it is a world with room for everyone.