Self Love

I know there are hundreds of posts and articles out there telling you how to love yourself and be confident and “love the skin you’re in” but really do any of those really work? Whilst the media still places all a woman’s worth on their looks and size by pushing the latest fad diet or the newest wonder product to hit Sephora it all seems a bit of an empty sentiment to me. Now, having said all that let me throw my thoughts into the ring too with yet another blog post on how to learn to love yourself...

The biggest thing that has helped me is regular exercise. I”ve always been a fan of the gym and of course pole since I started dancing 4 years ago, but over lockdown I got really into being active. Getting a smart watch with a fitness tracker has really helped motivate me to be active on a daily basis and I started to see a huge difference in the way my body looks but also my appreciation for it. Yes it may be a little heavier than I’d like, and a little squishy in some places but damn it’s amazing! At the start of lockdown I could maybe run 0.5km before having to stop for breath but now I can easily complete almost 3km non-stop!

And as for my progress with the pole, well...all my additional exercise has helped me gain strength and flexibility and I’ve achieved moves I’ve been trying to get for over a year! All of this has truly given me an appreciation for what my body can do, regardless of what the scale says or what I see in the mirror.

My second top tip would be to fill your social feeds with content that inspires you. Yes it’s always good to follow hose fitness influencer with the tiny waist as “inspiration”, but if all it does is make you feel sad then UNFOLLOW! Fill your feed with happy, body confident people And you will notice a huge difference in the way you start to perceive your own body. 

I also stopped buying magazines as much because honestly, I’m fed up of reading about the latest fad diet to hit the scene, and ploughing my money into buying content that doesn’t make me happy. The best way you can influence an industry is with your dollars, if you don’t spend it then eventually a change has to happen. I’d like to think that that change will be a huge reduction in photoshopping beautiful people and putting a stop to only putting skinny people on the cover and force feeding us ways to “improve” ourselves. I know that will take time but I really can’t wait for the day to come.

The last change I made was actually an unconscious one. For years I was always that girl who couldn’t leave the house without a full face of makeup; I would willingly be late to places just so I could make sure I looked good. All that changed thanks to jet lag. When I moved to Canada 2 years ago, jet lag kicked my ASS the first few months as I was regularly flying back to the UK for my master degree. In the morning I would wake up and have les than 30 minutes to get up and ready and to work, so makeup just wasn’t feasible. Eventually after about 6 months of this I realised there was little point in bothering to get up early to do my makeup every day, everyone had seen what I looked like without it at this point and honestly, I was starting to get used to seeing my naked face, and what’s more...I was starting to like it. Instead of criticizing every little detail in the mirror I was beginning to appreciate my natural look. As a result, now I rarely wear makeup and I feel very confident in my skin.

That’s not to say I don’t still love makeup, I do. Plus, I do sometimes miss being that girl who was always put together with a full face every day, but my attitude now is that I want to put make up on, not that I need to. And let me tell you, that is empowering as hell!

I would love to hear your thoughts on this too! :)

Lauren xo