It doesn’t matter what size you are, or even what your age is….at any time in your life, you can make the decision to look and feel your best. Let 2018 be that time.
Now, nobody knows your life like you do. But if you are feeling less than great, it’s time to do something about it.
These four tips are the most powerful for looking and feeling better:
1: Before All Else, Develop Self-Love
Unless we are born with a deformity, most of the time when we feel bad about how we look, it’s a self-confidence issue more than a body problem:
- If you’re obese, more than likely you suffer from a food disorder, like food addiction or overeating. Although food disorders like these usually start as a result of a trauma, they become a habit that’s difficult to break, leading to poor self-confidence and many times, self-hatred. Learning to love yourself, even as a fat person, is the first step to genuine recovery because self-love will help you make better choices, which will influence your weight.
- When you feel shame over a nose that’s too big, or a medical condition like lymphedema, you can overcome it, and to feel better, you must. Even though you may have something that is defective, or which you’ve been teased about as a child, learning to love the body part is essential if you are to feel happier – you don’t have to love the big nose, but you can love the fact that it works, and that it gives the gift of smell…
The best way to begin, is by taking captive every thought you have about yourself, and asking whether you would talk to someone else the way you are talking to yourself. Then stop that thought in its tracks, and make your self-talk more loving and positive.
When your self-esteem develops, you will gain self-confidence and begin making choices that are healthier for you, like eating food that contributes to your health, being more assertive, standing up for yourself, and so on.
2: Deal With Your Crap
The majority of people live their lives in a state of blur – doing the same things every day, going through the motions. And then, just before they die, they suddenly experience regret.
Bronnie Ware, an Australian nurse who worked for several years in palliative care, caring for patients in their final 12 weeks of life, recorded the top regrets of the dying. Right at the top were:
- I wish I had the courage to have lived my life as being true to myself, instead of what others wanted me to be.
- I wish I had not worked so hard.
- I wish I had had the courage to express my feelings.
Will you be one of those people with these kinds of regrets? And do you really want to live a life without progress?
Then my friend, you need to take charge and deal with your crap:
Learn to be assertive.
Deal with what’s been bothering you.
Get rid of the friend who makes you feel bad.
End the relationship with the guy that keeps cheating on you.
And if you absolutely must…take drastic action if you really need to fix something that’s been bugging you for a long time.
Perhaps a breast lift would do it, or eyelid surgery.
Many people before you have considered medical tourism as a possibility.
Whatever you do, don’t just stand there; do something!
3: Exercise
On some level, we all know that exercise is good for us. But did you know?
- It makes us happier because it releases feel good chemicals in our brains.
- Exercise helps us deal with stress in-the-moment, but it also helps us stay calmer in the long-run.
- When you feel tired and still exercise, you feel more energised afterwards.
- By exercising, you are showing yourself that you matter and that your body is worthy to be cared for.
- It helps you sleep better.
Exercise is so beneficial that Fast Company goes so far as to say it’s a cure for just about anything.
4: Make the Effort to Look Better
Any woman can be beautiful, no matter if she is seriously overweight, or does not consider herself beautiful. The trick is that to get to that point, you have to feel beautiful before you’ll look beautiful.
And to feel beautiful means you have to put in the effort. You don’t have to enjoy the process, but once it’s complete, you will feel better than if you made no effort.
Focus on your hair, makeup and outfit. Find what works for you, and how to have fun with it, and then just do it. There are plenty of online resources to find out how to make the most of your physical appearance.
Even using just three makeup items will make a difference if you’re a no-effort kind of gal: after using primer, add shimmering blush, volumising mascara and lipgloss.
Once you get into a habit, it will be easier to keep doing. And you’ll feel much better for it.