Ten Steps to Loving Yourself

"Jump!" Image Courtesy of derekskey via Flickr

I've got another steaming dish of self-love coming your way. Hope you enjoy!

 These past few days I have been working on a research paper about the influence the media has on eating disorders. This means I had to read through dozens of articles and statistics on the  number of cases of Anorexia and Bulimia in the United States and let me tell you, the information is positively staggering!

Body dissatisfaction is a growing trend not only among teenagers, but now adolescents and tweens. The only way these children can grow up to be confident, self-loving women is if they have confident women to look-up to. Here at Sunshiny Beat, we will strive to be that example. We need to stop viewing our bodies as the enemy and instead, embrace it for all that it allows us to do.

Look through this list of Ten Steps to Positive Body Image compiled by the National Eating Disorder Association to get some ideas on how to start loving yourself.

1. Celebrate all the amazing things your body can do for you: Laughing, Smiling, Dancing, Singing, Running
2. Keep a top-10 list on all the amazing things about yourself that have nothing to do with your weight or appearance.
3. Remember: True Beauty is Not Skin-Deep.
4. Look at yourself as a whole person-not merely as individual body parts.
5. Surround yourself with other self-loving people.
6. Come up with personal affirmations that you can recite whenever you find yourself getting down.
7. Wear clothing that makes you feel fabulous.
8. Critically analyze the media content you are consuming and understand that much of what is depicted is unrealistic and unhealthy.
9. Do something nice for yourself- read a book, take a bubble bath, take a walk.
10. Do something to help others. Sometimes doing so helps you feel better about yourself.  

Take these, post them and remember them.  

Also, if you have any other ideas please share them with me in the comments section. 

I hope you all have a lovely rest of the day, full of self-love and happiness!