You are never going to be perfect. Fact.
My jawline is never going to be as defined as I would like; my abs will never be as symmetrical as I dream them to be; one my shoulders protrudes out more than the other; I struggle to not make stupid jokes at times, and I wish I was more confident and outspoken than I am.
All that being said, I love myself.
We all have our imperfections and things we are not happy with. However, we cannot have negative connotations to them as there is only so much we can change.
Sure, if I lose weight my cheeks will get less chubby, but ultimately I’ll never look precisely how I dream – this is fine!
I believe loving yourself conditionally is key to your long-term wellbeing – how are you ever meant to be happy if you’re not happy with yourself?
Sure we can strive to improve – my motto is to become a better version of yourself each day – however, you should love yourself every step of the way; through the good and bad; through the times you succeed and the times you mess up – whatever happens in life you are you and you have to love yourself for it!
Good brings good – if you think that you’re out of shape but love yourself you are more likely to work with yourself to get fitter in a healthy fashion – if you hated yourself for being out of shape you are more likely to either eat more out of shame or unhealthily starve yourself out of self-hatred.
Love and embrace your imperfections; don’t hide from them and don’t hate them. Instead, work with yourself to improve them; have a little chuckle when you know you’re binge eating or on purposely avoid someone to avoid an awkward conversation instead of letting it define you. This will let you develop a mindset which will allow you to slowly progress and overcome your goals instead of getting trapped in a loop of self-pity and stagnation.
If you are feeling down about yourself, either because of not achieving something or a natural trait of yours, I want you to take a moment to appreciate everything that you do have; some people are born with no limbs yet still have glistening smiles on their face. Others are literally born into sheer poverty yet can appreciate everything they do have, no matter how little it is.
Be grateful and lucky about what you have and love yourself for it, simply because there is no positive to not doing so – if you look at life from a negative perspective your life is likely going to become more negative, either internally, externally, or both! When you start to look at the positive aspects of negatively perceived things you may be able to see that they really aren’t that bad at all! In fact it may help you realise that your faults are in fact beautiful assets of yours.
Love yourself unconditionally.
-Mike
Michael Tawiah’s life mission is to help you become the best version of yourself. He is a trusted author on the #1 self-growth website and has written over 90 articles at his blog www.invinciblementality.com, where he shares his insights on topics such as fears, insecurities, success, health, and happiness.