For those who know me, they know that I get “all jazzed up” about body image (i.e. it lights a fire under my belly, makes the hair on my neck rise, gets my blood boiling, etc.). What gets me all worked up is the amount of time and energy that is wasted by women in this country either feeling bad about themselves or thinking they need to be something else – thinner, prettier, younger, sexier, etc. It pisses me off! Well, and believe me, I have expended a lot of negative energy towards this in my lifetime and with a round of heavy focus on this for the past eight years.
As a result of continually feeling bad and being critical about my body, I have kept adding the weight on. My negative energy was not a fuel to treat myself better. Instead, it has been my gas to light the “lack of self-confidence” on fire!
Who is that in the mirror?
I am just returning from taking a few days away for myself. I crave get-aways like this where no one needs me so that I can rejuvenate (no husband, dog, cat, laundry basket, dirty dishes, mom, job – you get the drift). I am MWI – missing with intent. As I was sitting in my Airbnb, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and holy Hannah! I thought, “Is that me?!” Look at the padding on that ass! Look at…well, I could go on and on and I did – in my head. Finally, I thought, THIS IS IT – STOP IT! I know darn well that I need to turn this around, and beating myself up on a daily basis is getting me nowhere, other than fatter.
One of the key principles in my well-being workbook is positive self-talk. So when those voices creep in and say things like, “OMG, you’re so fat. How did you let yourself go? And go this far? Look at that stomach!” Those thoughts need to get zapped – immediately – with a positive statement.
Power of positive self-talk
Interestingly enough, over time when I was diligent about this practice, I started to be less and less critical of myself. I could walk by a storefront or a mirror and not even judge my body. In fact, I didn’t even think about my body. I didn’t even look at my reflection. It was AWESOME, and I miss that. So, I decided on Sunday, March 1, 2020, that my new positive statement is “You’re such a hottie”. Yep, believe it readers – I am one hot lady!)
It takes practice to stay on top of reversing those negative thoughts, and I’m ready for it. I’ve done it before. I know it is a key element of my well-being, and I’m sick of the wasted energy and time that I have put towards thinking, “I’m not a hottie!” (I say this facetiously, as I will never get to the point of truly thinking that I am “hot” – hell would have to freeze over first. However, I know by zapping my negative thought with “I’m such a hottie” completely changes my mindset from a frown and turns it upside-down.)
Here’s what is important for you to know: When you focus on caring for your inner-self, all of that noisy nonsense doubting how you look, wondering if you are you pretty enough, thin enough or frankly, good enough – goes away. You become focused more on caring for you and less on caring about what others think of you. It’s great when that happens. It’s not easy – especially in our external facing culture, but you can do it. Put your positive statement in place and join me. Let’s turn those frowns upside-down – zap those negative thoughts and focus on how great you already are – period!
Sincerely,
The Hottie xo
