I believe that it all comes back to your relationship with yourself. If you truly accept and love yourself – your mind, your body, your soul – then nothing anyone else says can hurt you. If someone says you are too big or too short, it doesn’t matter – because you know you are perfect the way you are. If someone says that you are stupid, clumsy, too much, inconsiderate, or too different, it doesn’t matter – because you know that there is nothing wrong with you and you love yourself the way you are. The only reason something hurts us is if we believe that it is true.
But if we think that we are perfect the way we are, how will we grow and continue to develop? And aren’t we all imperfect and have “flaws?” Yes, of course we all have things that we may want to work on. And that’s ok. But don’t hold out on loving yourself, just because you haven’t reached a certain ideal yet. If we love ourselves, it doesn’t mean that we stop to grow. It actually makes it easier to change because we are being compassionate with ourselves and are using positive reinforcement as opposed to criticizing and blaming ourselves and using negative reinforcement. (Find out more about self-compassion in Self-Judgment or Self-Compassion?)
Manuela is helping smart and creative women be happier with themselves and their lives! Visit Manuela’s Website for Professional Life Coaching and Personal Growth Workshops.
I love this piece & couldn’t resist quoting you on FB. Thank you for reminding us of what’s important & empowering us to do more:)
Thank you, Beth! I am so glad this resonated with you. And I feel very honored to be quoted by you. 😉 Writing this helps me remember what’s important as well.