Ever since being diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, I’ve been thinking about myself differently. My world was filled with “I can’t wait to…” is not filled with “I used to…”. “I can’t wait to go to dance class” became “I used to exercise 5x a week.” “I can’t wait to go to the club” became “I can’t want to get home and stay home.” “I can’t wait to get my hair and nails done” became “I used to feel better about myself.”
Much has changed in my world these past 9 months, as I have had to make incredible life changes in my self care. I began to dislike the person in the mirror because I didn’t know who she was anymore. I decided enough was enough, and if I was going to beat Hashimoto’s and get my thyroid back to a manageable level, then I needed to start loving the person who would be my champion fighter, and get her mind set on the right path to healing.
When I asked myself, “Do I love myself?” I came up empty. What is your answer to “Do you love yourself?”
Most people probably take a deep breath when they hear that question, but it is a valid and important question and one if we could all answer yes to, would change the way we feel about ourselves and give us self-confidence to achieve the dreams and desires we have for our lives.
Someone once asked the question “how can we expect others to love us if we don’t love ourselves” and this demonstrates the importance of learning to love the unique person we are. It is accepting that we have own special place in this world. Feeling unloved and unworthy is a very lonely feeling. If you cannot find anything to love about yourself, you are probably struggling on the inside with a whole range of feelings.
Learning to love yourself is possible. To love yourself you must challenge the negative feelings inside that center our thoughts and self-wealth feelings on external things like how successful we are in our roles as mothers or husbands or how well we can sing even how good looking we are. While acknowledging their role in our life, our self-worth and self-acceptance is about the person we are, the person we are comfortable being around when everyone else has left and we are alone. If we are not comfortable with that person, we do not love our self.
Take time to sit and write all the things there is to love about yourself. Be honest with yourself. Do not let negative self-talk stop the process. Try to do these five simple things every day and you will find yourself thinking differently about the private you few others see or know.
Challenge your negative thoughts about yourself by having positive ones written down and read them aloud to yourself often.
Learn to self-care and do something every day that you enjoy doing. You deserve it!
Look in the mirror and learn to love the person looking back at you and tell him or her often she is lovable and why.
Fill your life with people who love you and tell you often what a special person you are. Accept their words and their love without questioning it
Add to your list about the person you are, the good thoughts you have about yourself and read them regularly.
When you have positive feelings about yourself, you automatically begin to love yourself and hence you do a better job at whatever you do. Schedule time each day to review what you love about yourself, even if it’s 5 minutes! That 5 minutes of telling yourself how amazing you are…will begin to change “I used to” into “I can’t wait to,” and eventually leading you back to the person you are supposed to love, NOW.
It may seem like a strange way to create self care, and yet it works for me. I get up 45 minutes earlier now (sometimes more) so I can box breathe, meditate, visualize, journal, and read some inspirational material before my day starts. I don't ever have th energy at the end of the day. So now my day starts earlier, but it stars on a high note with a big feeling of doing good things for me.