Feeling good in our own skin is very much synonymous with having confidence. It’s something that’s rooted in the knowledge that we’re good and beautiful, and clever, that we are simple enough to ourselves. That our unique set of traits is special and lovely, and that we don’t need to change anything that we don’t want to change. But confidence doesn’t come easy for everyone. It’s important to know that it’s a road full of bumps at every turn, and it takes a certain kind of resolve to go against the tide and find the courage to accept yourself. But where do we find our resolve? In good habits, and in the right way of thinking. In the way, we see the world and approach problems. And that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about here.
Get passionate about your fitness habits
Salvation lies in exercise, but not just because it can keep the pounds away. Working out is transforming in a lot of other ways, mainly because it’s really good at lowering your stress levels, making you quicker, stronger, and more nimble, and it’s generally the perfect way to distract yourself from worries. If you approach exercising only with the goal of getting thin and fulfilling a certain standard it’s unlikely you’ll have a good time. If you approach it as a fun journey that’s aimed at making you healthier and more confident of the way you look and move, then it takes on a whole new meaning.
Play around with fashion and makeup
Fashion is not really about squeezing yourself into whatever is currently trendy if you don’t like it. It’s about finding your own way, your own style, and using clothes to express yourself. The same goes for makeup – it’s there for all its fun colors and the ability to make you feel creative. Having a well-developed personal style also means it will be a lot easier to find clothes to wear in the morning. You can create your own aesthetic simply by making a Pinterest account and looking and pictures of different outfits and styles, and picking what appeals to you. Here are more tips on how you can use clothes to make you feel more confident.
Realize that you make your own choices
Look, your choices are about you. No one else’s life is affected by how you look and what you decide to find attractive on yourself, so no one else should really get a say. If you want to rock a natural makeup look and spend your days in sneakers and sweatpants that’s absolutely amazing and you should totally do that. But if you want to be glamorous, if you want to have red lipstick as your signature, if you want to do a ton of beauty procedures, then that’s amazing too.
These things are no longer a taboo, and you are not shallow for wanting to change something on yourself. Take a look at Australia, for example – a country known for beautiful women who confidently stroll down the beach each day. While they are self-assured and gorgeous on their own, plenty of them have also had procedures done to change an aspect of their appearance and enhance something about their bodies. Cosmetic procedures such as liposuction in Perth are popular, and so is breast augmentation and lip fillers.
Do procedures make you any less beautiful? No. Does your preference to go through life without them make you any less beautiful? Also no. We’ve got to stop shaming each other for our choices, particularly if they don’t affect other people. And we’ve also got to stop letting people make us feel bad about what we do or don’t do with our own bodies.
Work on yourself every day
If you have a hobby, stick to it. Learn something about it every day, and let your skills grow gradually. Knowing things makes us a lot more confident, it makes us feel capable and smart. If you don’t have a hobby, find one. Pick something you’re good at, and something that you enjoy – from learning how to paint to figure out how to design a web page, to doing nail art.
Train your mind to cut down on negativity
Bear in mind that negativity is simply… unproductive. It never takes you anywhere, and beating yourself up over mistakes only makes you miserable. We tend to focus far too much on the bad things, and we ignore everything positive about ourselves because our minds are used to doing it that way. To fix it, try training your mind to do the opposite – focus on the good stuff and ignore the insecurity. Whenever a self-deprecating thought pops up, recognize it. Realize it’s there, and that it’s doing damage to your psyche. Write it down if you want, examine it, and then let it go. Cut it out of your day, out of your life. You’re better than your dark thoughts.
Be patient and kind to yourself, and make small steps each day. With practice, you’ll learn to feel a lot better in your own skin.
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