Summer is the time of year to have fun and relax, not wrestle with your self-image. Thanks to the amped-up summertime media and advertising in our faces telling us how to look all the time, many of us find ourselves confined to the ring, grappling with a negative self-image. This year, flip the script and force that negativity into submission with some new tools. Self-acceptance, redirecting your perspective, and practicing positive self-talk are three easy ways to help soothe your summer self-image.
Before you get started, you must tame your inner critic. Your critic is that voice inside your head that spits negativity at you all day long, especially in the summer where self-image is concerned. Some people ignore it best they can; others give in to its endless chatter. But here’s the thing: The critic is loud for a reason, and you can learn to control that volume by uncovering that reason. So, when your critic strikes up, go to work on taming it so you can ease into your summer.
Self-Acceptance
Many of us find it difficult to accept not only who we are but also how we look. Instead of taking time to acknowledge and appreciate our flaws, we’re too busy degrading ourselves about them or going to extreme lengths to mask and even alter them. It’s important to remember that similarity or likeness is not what yields uniqueness; individual flaws do that, and that’s what makes us beautiful.
Next time you’re in front of a mirror, regardless of how you look or feel, tell yourself, “I accept you as you are, each and every part of you,” and continue to do this daily. Before you know it, you’ll find you’re feeling better about yourself and your perspective is starting to shift, all because you took the time to show yourself some acceptance.
Redirecting your perspective
Prior to acceptance, we approach the mirror with a certain self-image; but after consistently engaging in self-acceptance, we find our perspective beginning to shift. We see that we’ve been living, viewing, and engaging in life from a body-focused perspective, which has completely deterred our ability to connect with ourselves intellectually. When you begin to actively acknowledge and accept all parts of yourself, you discover a more mind-focused perspective and choose to work from that standpoint because it’s more beneficial to you.
In becoming more mind-focused, it’s important to remember who you are. You are not your body, thoughts, feelings, or actions. You are the energy inside your physical body having this physical experience. When you focus on staying mindful in the present moment and on having the experience instead of how you look in the experience, your perspective on everything, including yourself, shifts and redirects your internal focus to a more positive, accepting outlook.
Practicing compassion & positive self-talk
Engaging in positive self-talk is hard, especially when dealing with a loud, often scolding inner critic. You can change this, though, by showing yourself compassion. Be gentle with yourself when needed, show love to yourself for who you are, forgive yourself where needed, and give yourself a break; you deserve it. Showing yourself compassion is the starting point on the road to positive self-talk (and ultimately to soothing your summer self-image). Part of showing yourself daily compassion involves positive self-talk. This can be anything from telling yourself how much you love and accept yourself to acknowledging the efficacy with which you knock out daily tasks to giving yourself props for all the sweet, little things that make you, well, you. Affirmations like “I love you”, “I’m proud of you”, “You can do this”, and “You are beautiful inside and out” will have a profound impact on how you come to view yourself. Before you know it, you’ve soothed your self-image.
