Show Yourself a Little Love – 5 Ways to Love You

We ladies have a little secret.

We are hard on ourselves and sometimes even harder on each other. We pick and poke and make snide comments. And we often don’t realize how deep down and scarring these remarks can be. They can lead to poor self-esteem, negative thought patterns, and even to disorders.

But you know what? This isn’t necessarily how we want to be.

Deep down, most of us just crave acceptance, from our self and from others. We want to feel love and radiate love back at each other. We want to feel healthy, happy, and whole. And we want others to feel the same way. We just don’t always know where to begin. 

This week is Women’s Health Week and in honor of supporting women getting healthy, I wanted to share some tips with you from Julia Holland, Certified Eating Disorder Specialist from the Eating Recovery Center in Denver, Colorado.

Ways to Love Yourself

1.       Focus on who you are, not what you are. 

It’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling dissatisfied with what we look like or what we have or haven’t accomplished in our lives and relationships. Focus instead on who you are as an individual, and celebrate your intellect, sense of humor, kindness, parenting skills, compassion for others, or any other number of qualities that make you special.

2.       Change your self-talk: 

Many of us are guilty of “fat talk,” a term used to describe females engaging in denigrating conversation about their bodies. When women say things to themselves and others like “My arms are big,” “I’m huge,” or “These are my fat pants,” they exaggerate the meaning of weight loss and can lead to serious consequences. America’s obsession with thinness and the ideal figure continues to drive this conversation, and it’s important that women become aware of their negative self-talk and try to change the tone of this body dialogue.

3.       Strive for balance and moderation with food and exercise. 

Television, magazines, books and the internet are constantly touting the latest diet or exercise fad—these trends come and go and are unlikely to produce healthful, sustainable results, and we end up feeling even more dissatisfied with our bodies. Don’t deprive yourself of foods you want, and try not to over-do it with exercise.

4.       Quiet the perfectionist in you.

 Be happy with yourself just the way you are. We often get caught up in what weight we want to be and what size we want to shrink down to. That thinking can often lead to long periods of unhappiness and dissatisfaction, and in many cases, it’s physically impossible to reach weight or shape goals based on our unique body composition. Enjoy the adventure of life and don’t center your happiness on your weight or body shape goals.

5.       Separate your self-worth from the scale! 

Don’t let that number on the scale determine how you feel about yourself each day. Identify something that you’re grateful for or pay yourself a compliment that has nothing to do with weight or shape. It’s important to be able to understand and connect with your value as a human being regardless of what the scale reads.

Julie Holland, MHS

Certified Eating Disorder Specialist & Chief Marketing Officer

Eating Recovery Center

About the Expert:

Julie Holland is Chief Marketing Officer for Eating Recovery Center in Denver, Colorado, and is widely recognized in the eating disorder treatment field as both an expert clinician and public speaker. She is also a Certified Eating Disorders Specialist.

For more from Julie, stop by the Eating Recovery Center site. Start loving yourself and radiating that back into the world today. Which step resonated with you the most? Pick one and in the comments below tell me how you plan to incorporate it into your everyday life!

Peace and Love,

jessi