How I did it: For me, this is going to be a life-long process, but I do finally feel as though I've made friends with myself.  I took a counselling course in first year uni and what really resonated with me was 'Cognitive Behaviour Therapy'.  At the basis of this is determining what is causing the behaviour, which is usually irrational thoughts.  I used to have very irrational thoughts-thinking that no-one liked me for one.  So I looked at this logically and found that there was absolutely no evidence to back this thought up.  At the end of the day, there are people who like me and people who don't, but what's important is that I like me. 

So every time I'd have one of these irrational thoughts, I'd acknowledge it, but then dismiss it as it was false.  Eventually, I began to replace these negative thoughts with positive ones.  C. helped a lot with this as he tells me positive things about myself all the time x

Lessons & tips:

• Surround yourself with positive people.  Yes it's been said before.  Yes, it's true.
• Find activities that are "outside" yourself like volunteering.
• Do things that you are enjoy and are good at.  Tell yourself that you're good at them.
• Encourage yourself to achieve your goals, whatever they may be.
• Self-care: cleanse, tone, moisturize, wash/condition hair, wear clothes that are flattering and make you comfortable (and don't think that you're not worth the trouble, because you ARE!)
• DON'T LISTEN TO YOUR INNER NEGATIVE VOICE.  Tell it to shut up if necessary.  Even better, replace the negative with positive e.g. "My knees are weird." to "But I have awesome legs which draws attention away from them."
• There are things about ourselves that we don't like.  Consider that these "flaws" may actually be what others admire in you.

Resources:

• Myself
• Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
• C.
• Friends
• Beauty products/clothing

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Nov 06, 07:49PM PST | 6 comments | 25 cheers