Do you love yourself? When was the last time you looked yourself in the mirror and said something nice about the way you looked? When was the last time you stopped taking criticism from other people and focused on how you felt? When was the last time you took a compliment and just said "Thank you" instead of making excuses like "Not really, I've just dropped a few pounds"?
Most of the time we like to focus on the bad, on the things we want to change about ourselves instead of thinking of everything that's right about us, of how lovely we look that day or how much we love the outfit we decided to wear that day. We are taught we are not enough.
We listen to people tearing itself apart out of insecurity, picking on other people's outfit, personality or looks, when in reality what they hate about you is something they would want to have. Think about it, why would they be paying so much attention if they didn't want it for them?
I went through this my whole high school, I got teared apart by people that seem to only pay attention to what I was doing wrong or how much weight I'd gained over that weekend and being young and naive I took all of that, I took it, ate it and later on my life developed an eating disorder that made me look better but my health was compromised. I have a sensitive tummy with gastritis and a lack of iron because I wasn't eating enough.
Now, four years later I can say that I feel more confident. Since then I've started eating cleaner, I also started working out and seeing results not only in the way I looked but the way I felt and it wasn't until I started doing it for myself that I understood how important is to love yourself and your body more than anything else.
It's been a long process in which I've learned to love my body even if I get a little thicker, I've learned to love all kinds of food and indulge without compromising my health again, I've also learned how important is to workout even if it just involves waking. But most importantly I've learned that you've got to do all of this because you want it, not because anyone else told you to.
The moment you start loving yourself and doing everything you can to improve because you want it, the whole world is going to change for you. you are going to be happier and you are going to feel more confident and no one is going to be able to stop you once that happens.