In this blog, you will learn 6 Ways To Love Yourself Where You’re At. Along with some of my favorite local businesses that helped me bring my self-love photoshoot to life.
By no means am I claiming to be a professional, I am just sharing my
personal experience, my story and my thoughts.
Love Yourself Where You’re At
As humans we go through many different experiences, we learn, we change, we grow. Our life is full of mental and emotional ups and downs. We can feel like everything around us is changing, most likely our body is adjusting too. Could be your first year at college, just moved in with your partner, or had a baby. Heck, you could be in the middle of a pandemic. One thing that’s important to remember is to love yourself where you’re at.
We are critical of ourselves by nature, it’s just how we are. Something changes and by society’s standards, it’s a bad thing, we beat ourselves up about it. Most times it’s with negative self-talk. Or we try another fad diet, but we need to sit in that moment and feel those feelings, instead of rushing to fix what we think is wrong. Just enjoy yourself and your body where you are at.
Now I do understand there are times it feels like our bodies have failed us, like an illness. For me, it was after my two miscarriages. A process that seemed easy was not turning out that way. Or you’re on medication; helping you how it’s supposed to but causes you to be over or underweight. Any way you look at it there is a time in your life where you might not be happy in your own skin.
What if we changed the narrative?
Often times we look to our future selves and we want to see our most ideal form. In many cases that could mean losing weight or building muscle or eating healthier. All of these activities are important for your health. But if you head into a diet change or an intense workout routine, without having love or respect for yourself, your results and expectations will not be realistic.
There is more to being physically healthy; to look like society’s standards. There is a lot of mental and emotional healing that has to be worked on. Often we think if we could just lose 10 pounds, we would feel better, but what if we changed that narrative? Acknowledge that yes being healthy is important, but love yourself in the moment. We need to stop buying our goal dress and letting it hang in the closet until it fits. Some people work really hard to make that a reality but that just might not be your story and that’s totally okay. How about we celebrate us in the moment and try a dress that is the right size that makes us feel good as we are. We need to learn to love ourselves where we are at and everyone’s story is different.
Below, I have compiled a list a of activities that I have done that might help you to love yourself where you are at.
6 Ways to Love Yourself Where You Are At
1. Seek Professional Help
If you are truly not feeling like yourself, if you’re struggling to enjoy everyday life or maybe life feels really heavy. Please reach out to your doctor or go to a walk-in clinic. There are so many resources available, you do not need to navigate this alone. Talking to your doctor, you will create a plan to try medication or talk to a therapist/psychiatrist to find the right plan for you. Your journey to self-love shouldn’t be hard and you most certainly do not need to go it alone. If you are feeling any type of suicidal thoughts or needing support right now, follow this link.
2. Document Your Journey
One of the best ways to get your thoughts out. Is to start writing your thoughts down. Maybe you start journaling, do a habit tracker or maybe it’s just a brain dump. Either way sorting your thoughts by writing them down is a simple way to find clarity. A wonderful way to look back at your journey to loving yourself where you are at. Take the time to reflect on yourself and make a list of physical, personality, values that you love about yourself.
3. Try Something New + Do Something You Love
One of my favorite activities is baking/cooking, it forces me to unplug and focus on the task at hand. I love to find new recipes to try or remake a favorite. Find the things you love to do and do them more often. Maybe it’s listening to or playing music, reading a book, or spending time outside. Recently, I fell back into drawing and painting. I loved doing this as a child. Revisit an old passion of and get lost in creating.
4. Unplug
It’s so easy to get lost in scrolling, we are all guilty. But once you have found a hobby or activity that you enjoy its so much easier to unplug. Because social media is one of the easiest ways to stay in touch. It’s not something to easily get rid of completely.
I highly recommend you go through your feeds and pay attention to what you are seeing. Some of your negative thoughts might come from things you are constantly seeing. For me when I was struggling with my weight pre and post babies. I realized I needed to unfollow accounts that set unrealistic expectations for what my body was supposed to look like. As soon as I started doing this, my perception of a perfect body started to change. I filled my feed with body confident women and accounts filled with self love.
Another side to this is unfollowing people in your life that can cause any type of stress or anxious feelings. This can be super hard especially when it might involve family. By recognizing and removing your triggers it will allow you to make space for you to love yourself where you are at.
5. Pamper Yourself
Take some time to pamper yourself. Head to your favorite salon or have a DIY spa night. Any act of pampering can be very up lifting. Often times we struggle to pamper ourselves. It’s hard to spend money on ourselves.
I have always loved spa/salon days its one of my favourite things to do. I always feel like a new person after having my hair colored, my nails done or getting a spray tan.
Sunday nights are my at-home self care nights. I usually do a bigger skincare routine before bed. I might do a face mask or a self tanner. A spa like shower or bath, paired with relaxing music is always a great way to recharge.
Pampering for you might mean meditation, a devotional, reading or doing some stretches/yoga. Do what makes you happy and relaxed.
6. Celebrate Yourself
One way to do this is to head to your favourite clothing store and go try on clothing. You don’t have to buy anything, go try on styles that you’ve always wanted to try. Try on clothing, not based on size but based on fit. This can be super liberating. Go on Pinterest and look for styles that you’re really inspired by and try to recreate those. You will be amazed how much fun this will be.
Another way to celebrate yourself would be to book a self-love or boudoir-type photoshoot. This can be super liberating and give you a really great boost of confidence. In the process grab some new lingerie our bra and panties. Having well-fitting underwear can give you a whole new level of confidence you didn’t know you were missing. Trust me. Don’t wait for one day to do this. Celebrate your self where you’re at.
I hope this has inspired you to try something new, to find help or take action in celebrating you. At the end of the day I really just want more people to be confident in their body in the moment. Get in those pictures, get the outfit that fits YOU, not based on your size.
Because I love the idea of loving yourself where you are at. I made some beautiful hand-drawn stickers. Head over to my Etsy Shop to grab yours! When you buy 3 stickers you will receive a FREE GIFT sticker! If you’re local use the coupon code LOCALPICKUP to save shipping.
THANK YOU
I would like to send out a HUGE thank you to all the businesses that helped to make the shoot happen. For more information on the services they offer I have them linked under each photo. xoxo
