you do you

I discovered this on someone’s blog today and was amazed.

It’s a video about photoshopping by Dove. I was shocked when I saw it. I then went on to watch a few more videos on photoshop and… I will never judge myself against pictures in magazines again. Okay, sometimes. But I’m going to try not to.

This is after I just had a big bowl of ice cream. (bring on the tummy ache.)

It’s so hard after eating a lot of unhealthy food. Tomorrow is always a new day though right?

When it comes to self-esteem and body issues, I’m not always the person to ask. In fact, most of the time I’m not the person to ask. In all my mistakes, my fumbles, my insecurities, I’ve learned a few things about loving yourself.

P.S. I reuse pictures sometimes. I’m about to pass out from being so tired. I’m sorry!

Perfection isn’t possible. No matter how hard you try, it’s not going to happen. Ever. Why? Why isn’t there perfect? Because perfection is in the eye of the beholder. What is perfect to me might be just sub-par for someone else.

No matter how much you beat yourself up after eating something bad or binging, it really won’t make you eat better the next day. Or maybe it’ll last a few days, but I guarantee it won’t stick with you long. I know because I’ve done it. You think “Oh my gosh I am never eating ice cream again. I’m going to eat salads for the rest of the week.” Yeah, doesn’t happen. So why not save yourself the trouble and move on with your normal routine instead of focusing on your mistake and making yourself feel awful about it?

You have to eat treats sometimes. You do. Sometimes that means emotional eating. I failed a physics exam in college that warranted the biggest bowl of froyo you’ve ever seen. It happens. Just don’t make it an every day thing.

If you don’t enjoy your exercise (or at least get something good out of it), then it’s just torture. You’re torturing yourself. I hate running; thus, I don’t run. Sometimes I do, when I’m feeling up to it. But I usually try to do other things instead because 1. it causes less pain 2. it’s more enjoyable.

Just because someone is skinnier than you doesn’t mean you should hate them for it. There’s always going to be someone prettier, skinnier, smarter, nicer… it happens. It’s life. There is nobody who is you though.

Speaking of people who you “think” are “better” than you in looks or health or perfection… you are putting them on a pedestal. Not okay. I often get jealous of other bloggers, then realize they are running 6, 10, 12 miles a day! 30 miles a week! I don’t even come close to that. I just about passed out running two. So honestly, if I put in the full effort, I could probably look better. If we all spent more hours training, more meals eating healthier… we can always improve. We can always be jealous of people. But the truth is, we live our lives the way we do for a reason. That is not to say that we shouldn’t improve in whatever way is possible, but to say that for a working mom it might not be convenient to get up at 5am to run. It’s all about what works best for you.

Also, there are those itches who just think it’s cool to eat ice cream all the time and be a size 0. Whatever.

pfft.

Loving yourself is really hard. I’m definitely still working on it. I don’t think we’re ever really done. Done improving ourselves, working on ourselves. I aspire to be the best person I can. I stumble a lot, but don’t we all?

Goodnight bloggies. With self-love,

Namaste<3