Scrolling through Instagram can consist of likes, pretty pictures, and comments of “so cute!” “Love you!” and many more. But one thing I have started to notice is after picture and picture of smaller long-haired people who (in my opinion) have the “perfect” face, it won’t take long for a voice of doubt to start whispering. Small statements of “you should exercise more” “eat fewer calories” “would I look better with a nose job?” start to flood your head and before you can catch it, you are down that rabbit hole once again. Loving yourself is a hard process and here are 4 hard truths to loving yourself
It Doesn’t Happen Overnight
The decision to love yourself is a big step. But it is the first of many steps to get to love yourself. It takes a lot of time and works to begin to love yourself. To be honest those thoughts will still flood your head. They will still be there and it may never leave. It takes time and a lot of practice to get where you need to be. It takes a lot of rewriting your thoughts and catching yourself in the act of thinking these thoughts.
You May Need to Take Time Off of Social Media
Some people do not have to do this, but it is normal for many people to need to take social media breaks. Often social media can be filled with the image of the “perfect body”. This can cause the start of more spiraling and could backtrack your progress because instead of hyping other girls, you begin to compare yourself. Again some people do not have to do this and you may not be one of the people who needs to do those things. Social media may not affect you but if it does you should take breaks from social media.
Backtracking is Normal
Often the statement “two steps forward one step back” can seem very true when you are attempting to love your body. You could stop a bad comment about your body in your mind but spend the next day on social media comparing your body to the other girls in your class. Backtracking can feel like a failure, but in reality, it happens to everyone. This process can be like a spiral. When hitting a low point, it is often higher than the low- point you had last time. The backtrack is nothing you should be ashamed about as long as you keep pushing yourself forward.
Conclusion
Loving yourself is hard, and sometimes the hard truths are easier to avoid than accept. But accepting truths is how you learn to grow and prosper. It takes time to get to where you want, and it may be a lot more time than you wanted. But one day that point will come to you. Taking time off social media may be the best route for you, and it may not, but if you are not sure try it and see what it does for you. Backtrack is a normal part of most things, especially in loving yourself. Just be sure to try to be kind to yourself no matter what and it is okay to take things slow.
Here are some other articles about self-love:
- https://elysesantilli.com/truths-about-self-love/
- https://medium.com/athena-talks/the-hard-truth-about-self-love-e20e2b3cbc9
- https://www.girlspring.com/how-to-love-yourself/
- https://www.girlspring.com/love-yourself/
