While reading the lovely quote posts linked up with me last week, I was inspired by the post that Lux shared on About Life & Love . She wrote about lessons from a throwback photo of herself. She asked for readers to share what they learned from their throwback photos. I started to write a novel of a comment about what I’ve learned from old photos of myself, then I decided it was more of a blog post than a comment I was creating!
I remember clearly before having kids that I thought I had a belly. This is now LAUGHABLE. But anyway, at the time, I thought I had a belly & was quite critical of myself in photos. I could see my tiny belly outline through my fitted tops & this was a serious problem – HA HA HA.
You can probably see where this is going. So after having a three kids, I looked over at my photo of myself 10 years younger & realized that I thought THAT version of me had a belly, among other critiques I had for myself. Looking at the same photo 10 years later I was really disgusted with how I felt back then. Seriously, what was I thinking? NOW I have a belly, now I can really see a belly & it is not good.
That was the moment of realization – hold the phone here. If I am now looking back & seeing my younger self with fresh eyes thinking – hey I looked good there. Then I bet in another 10 years I will look at photos of me now with the alleged big belly & think I looked youthful & fab!
So what’s the point of all this rambling you might ask? The point is to appreciate yourself, your figure, your looks, your youth, right NOW! Because in 10 years you will think back to the you right now & realize how fabulous you really were & wish you had known that at the time! So that you could enjoy life & feel good about yourself every day.
I wrote last week about loving yourself first before you can truly love others. Part of loving yourself is not constantly critiquing yourself about any part of you – including your physical, emotional & mental bodies. Accept & release the criticisms then move on. Embrace how fabulous you are right now! And find joy in that fabulous you!
Talk to yourself like you would talk to someone you love.
So rather than running a critical line through your mind saying this or that isn’t good enough, change it to positive! As the feature quote says, we believe what we tell ourselves. So, have a positive inner voice! Play loving, positive reminders to yourself instead of negative ones. Be a positive voice for yourself!
I think nearly everyone has seen this video already, it’s had over 12 million views, but if you haven’t, I definitely recommend watching it. It sums up everything I’ve said here about having a positive inner voice & lots more positive advice. Find the video on YouTube: Everybody’s Free to Wear Sunscreen.
Have a great week!! And be kind to yourself! xx
