Feeling Good About Myself

 I often find myself, like others, overthinking about my body. This is something I could personally really work on. The comparisons, the "perfect" bodies I see, the struggle to stay motivated in keeping myself healthy, and just feeling unhappy and unsatisfied. It is so easy to think this way and I know I can go down such negative paths sometimes. 

 Body positivity may be one of the hardest things to overcome, and each day I feel differently about myself. Maybe it's bloated, maybe I'm feeling "morning skinny." I may be extremely full, or feel confident as I head to the beach. I see how controlling weight can be to friends and family around me. Being satisfied and happy with who you are and how you look is extremely difficult to achieve. As I continue on the path of conquering the negative and insecure thoughts that hit me, I figured I'd share, since after all I made this account to express myself and the struggles that hit me. 

First of all, an important factor of feeling good about myself includes being active. As I used to be extremely active and involved in sports, Covid has affected me taking a bit of a turn. I didn't fully give up on working out, yet I tried a new form of it. Coming back from an injury that kept me from doing intense workouts, I thought I'd explore walking. Power walking is something that is always overlooked and underestimated. It turns out that it's actually a great way to slim down and to keep your body moving. With Covid, I had the time to walk and I took advantage of it. I started with a few miles a day and have reached a goal of trying to average 5-6 miles a day. Of course, like anyone, I have my off days, but I try to hold myself accountable and make it fun. This might mean different walking paths around town or around the city, calling a friend as I walk, or reaching out to friends or family each day to have as a walking buddy. Make it fun while keeping yourself active and in shape. I find it easiest to push myself athletically by walking because you can hold longer durations of it and still get a really great workout in. 

Second, feel good about what you eat. I know food is the most challenging subject. Personally, I feel like  I see people prepping these "easy" healthy meals all day long over social media platforms, and it gets old. Yes, the ideas are inspiring and yummy, but they aren't easy to make and each person differs. It overwhelms me! I will continue working on my eating and soon get to trying out new and fun recipes, but right now I need to listen to my body. I've noticed that dairy and gluten cause me to bloat and feel uncomfortable. I get stomach pains when indulging in the late night ice cream, or cheese and buns on my burgers. It may be a small start to reduce what I know causes me discomfort, but hey, you gotta start somewhere. My last tip will be trying to substitute my nightly sweettooth with fruit instead of sweets. Fruits are so sweet and I'm often (surprisingly) finding myself satisfied with a bowl of grapes or an apple with peanut butter. I'll keep up with updating as I find new ways to feel better about my eating. 

My third and last aspect for this post of feeling better is comparing. Social media has become so toxic for many people, I know I'm not the only one. Scrolling on Instagram and TikTok. Seeing all the perfect bodies. Comparing them to me and becoming sad about it. I am going to try to take a bit of a break from all my media pages full of skinny, gorgeous girls. It's important to remind myself it's not realistic and no one feels super confident about their body. Each person is similar to the next, full of body insecurities that they can't just shake off. It's time for a reality check! Reset your mind and quit the comparisons, I know I'm going to do my best. It's not a competition, it's all about feeling healthy and what makes you feel good about yourself. 

Hope you enjoyed this weeks post, let's work on feeling good about ourselves together. <3

xo, gg