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What do you see when you look in the mirror?

This week I had an in depth conversation with a good friend of mine on this topic so it felt fitting to blog about it while those thoughts are fresh in my mind...We talked about diets and losing weight, self love and body dysmorphia. This topic I imagine will be a touchy one for a lot of people, I know it definitely is for me!

I think I’ve had issues with the way I look from as young as 9 or 10 but as I grew older the worse my self image became. I don’t think I could pin point the cause of it but the main focus of my dislike towards my body was my weight. In my mind I have always been overweight and “not skinny enough”. I was always envious of my friends who had slim figures and seemed to be able to eat whatever they pleased without any effect on their appearance. Whereas I could easily gain a few kilos a week without much effort. My weight has gone up and down like a yo-yo basically my whole life and it has had a huge effect on my self esteem. The times in my life where I’ve felt most confident and happy with myself where when I had lost weight and the times where I felt most down and uncomfortable with myself where when I had put on weight. 

It’s literally something so ingrained into my mind that I don’t know if I could ever let go of those thoughts (about weight) completely but I would really love to learn to love myself more and to not let my weight have so much impact on the way I feel about myself. 
My friend was sharing with me how she used to have similar issues with her weight and self worth and while there are still times when it affects her, she has learned how to love herself the way she is and not obsess over diets and weight.
It definitely is a mental issue more than a physical issue. For example, after being pregnant and having a baby, I’m now at my heaviest weight y
when I look back at photos of myself pre marriage and baby where I was quite slim, I can’t believe I used to think I was fat then! It seems that even if I do lose weight I still have issues with myself and it never is “enough”.

I wish that I could finish this blog with a happy ending... a step by step that when if followed could fix self image issues and we could all just love and accept ourselves flaws and all! 😌
However, I don’t have the answer because it’s something I struggle with daily but it is something I’m working on.

Despite the issues I have with my self image, I do have a strong belief that I was created by God. That belief helps me to feel important and beautiful when I start feeling down about myself.

When I look in the mirror the first thing I see are my flaws but wouldn’t it be great if one day the first thing I saw were my strengths.

I would like to open this up to you now. Perhaps we can share with each other some ways to love ourselves more. What are some things that have helped you?

❤️Jade


Comments

  1. Twitter Qrstuv_RileyFebruary 1, 2020 at 2:35 PM

    Clearly, I did not tell you enough how wonderful a daughter you are - even if you have trouble accepting it at times, let me remind you, you are wonderful :)

    ReplyDelete

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