Thursday, January 31, 2013

Self Esteem

I have noticed that self esteem is a common focus for people. I had assumed, incorrectly, that because I was overweight, my self esteem was low...and that everyone who was thin had a high self esteem. You are, no doubt, chuckling at my wrongful assumption. Have you ever noticed how many articles and books focus on gaining high self esteem? There are even books on helping you help your children gain a healthy self esteem. And whenever you meet someone with high self esteem, you ask them how they attained it? I know that I have done that. I believe that most people aren't born with a high self esteem. And since a good self esteem seems to be something sought after, what can be done to gain it?

I was thinking about this a few nights ago, and I prayed for insight and help. I thought that if I can view myself in a better light, then perhaps I can do more for myself in gaining greater health. It only makes sense (to me) that if you care about someone, you do things to help them. And likewise, if you don't care about someone, then doing things for them isn't that high up on your list. So, since I don't care much about myself, why diet and do exercise when they aren't pleasant to begin with? But...if I were to come to love myself and care about myself...it's possible that diet and exercise might come more naturally? I'm thinking out loud here...

Back to my prayer, I was pondering this idea and the thought came to me: set a timer on your phone for every hour. When the timer goes off, say aloud (or in your head if you're not alone) something that YOU like about YOURSELF. The first day, I felt a little silly about doing it, but every hour I thought or said something that I liked about me, either something about me physically or personality traits. I caught myself smiling more often throughout the day. I could feel a difference in myself. The second day, I found myself thinking of positive things about myself during the hour - not just when the timer went off. The only difficult thing, thus far, is that I don't want to repeat anything so after a few days...I have to dig deeper to find things that I like about myself.

It's not easy, but I feel empowered by this challenge. I know that Satan doesn't want for me to be strong. He wants me to be weak and feel guilty about what and who I am not - instead of strong in who I am. I am a child of God and He wants for me to accomplish those things ahead of me in this life. I feel that if my self worth was to be stronger, that my ability to accomplish my life's work will be better. I would be happy to hear about things that you do to help improve your self worth. Feel free to share.

2 comments:

Gypsie said...

That is a great post! My self esteem always seems to improve when I tackle something new!

Motivated Mama said...

Wonderful post! I think you'd be hard-pressed to find ANY woman--thin or overweight--with a truly healthy self-esteem. We're bombarded with too many messages of what we should be, as women, wives, and mothers.
My only argument with your insights would be that "diet"--eating healthy--and exercise CAN be enjoyable. You just have to find stuff you like in each area. For example, if you dislike running, try Zumba. If you dislike lifting weights, try bodyweight exercises. If you don't like chewing salads, try yummy, sweet smoothies. I'm happy to make you a yummy green smoothie next time you come over!