Accentuate the Positive

Here’s a challenge for you.  Find a good mirror and take a look at your face.  Take a long look!  Now write down everything that you see as you’re taking in your reflection.  What kinds of things do you find yourself writing?

Most of us will likely have some of those negative, picky thoughts: I see a pimple; I don’t really like my hair today; there’s my big nose.  Everyone has thoughts like this!  The real question is—does your list only have these kinds of thoughts on it?

Or do you have positive observations mixed in?  I’ve always liked the color of my eyes; thank heavens good skin is genetic in my family; hey, my double chin is gone!  You should have a healthy mix of positive in with any of the negative on your list.  These are the things that say: “Hey, I’m not perfect, but I like me!”

The point of this exercise?  Recently, I’m noticing something in more and more people (ok, mostly women) I speak to about losing weight or getting healthy.  So many people make decisions to get healthy, to get fit, or to lose weight for different reasons.  They have different goals and different motivations.  But many of them have something in common—they think that if they make the changes they’re making, then they will like themselves better.

I’ve got news for you: you’re not going to like yourself any better if you lose 100 pounds.  You’re not going to like yourself better if you can do 100 pushups.  You’re not going to like yourself better even when you’re eating 100 percent healthy foods.

There is always something to not like about ourselves!  If your list is filled with negative self-talk, do you think fixing one thing on the list will grant you life-long happiness?  What if you get to your goal weight and decide it’s not enough?  What if you reach your fitness goal and realize you wanted more?  What if you eat nothing but healthy food but find you’re still addicted to sugar and fat?

If you’re going to find happiness once you reach your goals, then you need to find that happiness now.

Why do you think it’s so hard for us to like ourselves?  I challenge you to not blame the media!  Here, I’ll re-ask this week’s discussion question: Why do you think it’s so hard for YOU to like YOURSELF?