Boost Your Self-Confidence with this One Thing

We are often bombarded with how we should look, what we should wear and how we should act and because of this, almost every woman I know battles with low self-confidence.

This is now also affecting males too.

When I look around on Facebook and Instagram you have the health nuts and the ‘young ones’ who look amazing and share their seemingly endless good points with the world. Then the next post or item I see is saying how you need to embrace who you are and those people have given up on the endless search for perfection.

It seems to be a cycle of succumbing to the pressures of perfection and then swinging back to the ‘who gives a BEEP!’ status. Why are we doing this to ourselves?

I remember seeing somewhere a guy talking about how our bodies are simply a vehicle that we are given from birth.

We don’t get to choose what type we get. I guess we can focus on improving our model to try and look like a different type OR we can be grateful we have a vehicle in the first place. I mean, this body or vehicle is simply a way to operate in this crazy life. It gets us from A to B and for that, we have to be grateful, surely. Unfortunately, the world seems focused on the ‘vehicle’ instead of who is actually driving it.

I guess I keep being brought back to the word BALANCE, and as much as I really dislike this word, it really is what we need to aim for. I think I dislike it because it almost seems unobtainable, and yet, I actually think I am almost there.

I have given up on ‘working on my looks’. I have instead decided to work on being healthy on the inside, both body and soul. Starting with things like what I eat. I am focusing on simply feeding my body great fuel that it needs to be healthy. Read Michelle’s blog about Crowding In on how you can eat better without the guilt and deprivation.

Sure, I am going to enjoy a chocolate bar because it makes me feel good, it is my Vitamin P (for pleasure) and that is as good for me as something healthy, because I get enjoyment. It makes me feel happy.  I wouldn’t feel happy to be eating chocolate all the time because my body wouldn’t feel healthy, so here we are back at balance again.

Do I need to be slogging it out at the gym to look amazing? No!

Do I need to get outside a couple of times a week just for my mental and physical health? Yes!

But it isn’t about doing it for how I may look. For me, it is about doing it because it helps build resilience, it helps with my mental health and simply being in nature, being outside, is just so good for my soul. I don’t want the guilt anymore!

I want to feel happy with the efforts I can fit into my day. Whatever I manage to squeeze in is good for my body and soul, NOT so I can fit into a smaller size of clothing.

If you ask yourself, ‘What is driving me to do what I am doing?‘ then maybe you can make an easier decision about whether what you are doing is for the right reasons.

Maybe age is helping me realise that looks don’t last forever so it is pointless to focus on that. I turn 40 this year, and surprisingly for me, I feel better about myself today than I did 20 years ago, when I looked amazing.

Feeling comfortable in my own skin is what is important for me now and I wish I could have learnt this many years ago. The pain and torture I have inflicted on myself!  The times I missed out on fun because I was worried about how I looked.

So what is the ONE THING you can do to boost your self-confidence?

For me, it has been gratitude. The more I am grateful about my body and who I am, the more I am finding acceptance and love for myself.

How can you focus on the cellulite sprinkled over your legs and hate them, when you flip that and be grateful that those strong legs enable you to walk, run, swim and get around each day.  If you lost your legs would you be happy that you no longer have to look at the cellulite or would you grieve all that those legs helped you to do?

“Wear gratitude like a cloak and it will feed every corner of your life.” – Rumi

I challenge you to write down, each day, something you are grateful for, about your body and also about who you are as a person. It would be great to focus on the parts of your body you don’t like and think about life without it/them. Try and flip it into a positive and really feel the gratitude. Download the FREE worksheets and do this at least a couple of times a week.