Working Through Self Love

[Vanessa]

I've been on a self-love journey for the past 2 and a half years that I never knew I was on. Loving myself was something I never prioritized or realized I needed, but here I am! You would think the journey to self love would be easy...just loving yourself. But what I have learned through the journey is that I have to love myself at my worst, my best, my ugly, my pretty, and everything in between. I have learned that I need to allow myself to feel what I feel without guilt or shame.

Something else I've learned is that support is key to this process. Self love goes beyond the self. That is why I love AthletaWell so much, because it is a community about fostering growth....together. How has your self love journey gone for you? Do you have any tips or tricks that you have learned along the way. And if you're struggling, I completely understand. Let's talk about it so we can better support one another!

[danielle]

Thanks so much for sharing this, Vanessa! I'm certainly on a self-love journey myself, so I can definitely relate. This may sound overly simple but one tip that has worked for me is dressing in what makes me feel comfortable. I'm no longer dressing to be ~trendy~ or edgy, I'm looking to just be ME in whatever makes ME feel my best - most times that's just jeans and a t-shirt or what I call "my uniform". 🙂 

[Vanessa]

I think you're right on the money @danielle. My clothes really do not make me happy. They don't fit right, I won't feel comfortable in them, and they don't make me feel beautiful in general. I total agree that I often shop for trendy-ness rather than shopping for me. I think the first step is finding my style and making sure I check off the boxes. I think I need to do some shopping in the near future. Thank you for the advice!!

[Bhylton]

Thank you for being so honest here @Vanessa ! Self-love is a hard one to tackle and I'm going to guess it's a life long journey.  And I also really agree with your comment @danielle !  I have so many negative thoughts running through my brain all the time, including my physical body image, but my therapist has helped me to take a step back when I notice tightness in my chest or physical symptoms of stress, and re-phrase thoughts like "I'll never look good in this dress" to "I'm unique and beautiful as I am". 

Finding something that fits ME for ME helps me feel like I can do anything. But a practice of identifying your negative thought and then restating it to something that is true and positive for you has been a good tool.

[Vanessa]

Negative thoughts can be sooo hard to tackle, but I like the step of just re-phrasing those thoughts that come in. Its almost instinct to put myself down, but I would never talk to a friend like that so why am I talking to myself like that. And you really are right, finding things that truly fit me that I am comfortable in is also a good step toward kindness. Its setting myself up for success rather than failure. Thank you @Bhylton !