Positive Body Image and Loving Yourself.

No one likes to feel judged by their size or labeled because of their size. Also, people's weight easily fluctuates based on stress, holidays, genetic factors, or living in the south with mass quantities of good food available. I've seen empowering messages from friends of mine who have found amazing meal plans and workout plans--and they often give the message that there is really "no excuse" that eating healthy and living a healthy life is worth it and they give the reasons why they do it. It's important to be aware of how you are treating your body, what you put into it and how much you move it. But it might consume your thoughts more than it should, thinking "Oh, if I could just get back to how I looked in those pictures from a year ago, or the pictures from five years ago." 

I'm here to tell you that no matter what--you have to love yourself. If we all spent more time building ourselves up and smiling at the amazing person in the mirror, then maybe we could experience true happiness. Sometimes we are feeling pretty vulnerable to what other people say. It takes a long time to not care what others think. Sometimes we want people's approval, or we want validation that we are doing something right. There is much more to someone than just the superficial, trivial stuff. Be positive about yourself today, tomorrow, last week, and next week.

There are the questions of "why me"...and "why is this hard for me" or "why do I have to go through this" and so on "why is it so easy for her"....This journey is all about personal growth, discovering what you like about yourself, using your strengths to make life easier on you, realizing that no one is good at everything, and celebrating the little moments that make you smile and laugh--then do more of those moments. Build your life around who you are and what is important to you. Don't stretch yourself too thin trying to please everyone else. Why do people make mean comments anyways--why do people have to judge others--I think we are ALL only human and we all say things every day that we have not really thought about the impact it might have on someone. Sometimes we are just running our mouths and we should be more careful. If you are on the receiving end of a rude comment, I say to take it with a grain of salt and keep going. Keep being a friend to yourself, because that is what it's all about--at the end of the day you can ask yourself "Was I good to myself?" 

I remember in Third Grade we had a few teachers/moms that wanted to help out--they did a lesson on "Self Esteem"...I took much of it to heart and I knew I wanted to believe in myself and love myself. That Third Grade lesson is one that we each need on a daily basis, and the people that do say the hurtful comments or the ignorant comments--maybe they missed school on the day they had the "Self Esteem" coaching. Just goes to show we have to be an example to others. We have to be kind and pay it forward. Because I truly believe that the BIG PICTURE is telling us how wonderful we really are and how amazing life can really be, if we just let it.