Not liking yourself can affect your well-being, a common phenomenon that affects many of us, but you should learn how to like yourself. Not liking yourself can also lead to a lack of self-confidence, which can interfere with your ability to take risks and enjoy life. If you don’t appreciate yourself, you probably don’t like the life you live.
Learning to like yourself can increase your self-confidence, help you achieve your goals, and be more beneficial to you
Health and Wellbeing
. It can help you live a fulfilling life through meaningful relationships. There are some beneficial changes you can make in your life to help you learn to love yourself and love your life.
Is it normal to not like myself?
New Concept Psychologist
Professor Rong Xinqi
Point out that it’s not uncommon for people to dislike themselves—sometimes people can’t like themselves because of negative thought patterns and feelings, and they can be ashamed of who they are, making it difficult Believe that you have any strengths and shining points.
Sometimes people don’t like themselves because they didn’t come from a supportive or nurturing family as a child. As a result, they may have low self-esteem and lack empathy for themselves. This lack of confidence can lead to satisfaction with validation and boundary holes.
How to make you like yourself more?
You may not have the love for yourself right now, but there are things you can do to help yourself. Taking some steps to find a more neutral place where you don’t hate yourself but love yourself less is a good place to start.
So, how do you make yourself fall in love with yourself? You can try the following methods:
1. Take care of yourself
Research shows that regular exercise and a healthy diet can improve a person’s overall health.
You can try to maintain 10-30 minutes of moderate physical activity every day, such as walking, practicing yoga, taking fitness classes, cycling, playing basketball, etc.
While exercising and eating a healthy diet are vital to your physical and mental health, you must also feel good about yourself on the outside, which can mean working in a style that makes you feel comfortable and confident. Ways to take care of your appearance and dress.
2. Identify your strengths
When you don’t like yourself, you may focus on your weaknesses and shortcomings. Changing your thought process and thinking about your strengths and strengths can make you feel better and release some negativity.
If this doesn’t come naturally to you, you might want to try writing about the things you love about yourself and the things you’re good at so you have something positive to do when you’re feeling down Something to look back on. You can also call friends and ask what they think your strengths are.
3. Practice gratitude
Practicing gratitude by embracing your gifts, abilities, and life itself can help you learn to appreciate yourself. It allows you to focus on the positive aspects of your life instead of thinking about the things you wish were different.
You can think of all the little ways you take care of yourself every day that you might take for granted. For example, thank you for exercising your body today, keeping yourself well fed, going to work normally, watering your plants, getting a good night’s sleep, etc.
You do more than you realize, and it’s worth taking a moment to thank yourself for everything you do. You can also take a moment to thank the environment and the people who give your life meaning.
4. Avoid comparing yourself to others
Comparing yourself to others often leads to disliking yourself. Comparing yourself can undermine your self-confidence and make you question your worth. If you make an effort to stop comparing, you may notice an improvement in how you feel about yourself.
When you notice that you are comparing yourself, try to remind yourself that other people’s wins are not your losses, and that everyone has room to thrive in their own lives.
5. Limit social media exposure
If you compare yourself to people on social media, you will remember that you are comparing yourself to their highlights. Many photos and videos have been edited to look perfect, and it’s not fair to compare them yourself. If it becomes an issue in your life, consider limiting your social media exposure.
Even if you take a day out of the week to socializeMedia distancing and focusing on the real world can also help you lay the groundwork and remind you that what happens on social media doesn’t matter in the end.
6. Focus on positive thinking
A negative thought process can lead to disliking yourself. You can shift your thought process to focus on positive thinking to help you find neutral territory. Ultimately, positive thinking leads to loving yourself, but do it step by step.
You can try to replace negative thoughts with positive ones to promote an optimistic outlook on life. It increases self-confidence and helps you understand yourself better.
Research shows that ruminating or analyzing and focusing on trauma or past events can lead to self-critical thoughts. In these situations, shifting your mindset and focusing on positive thinking is essential, otherwise depression may result.
This change in thinking may feel forced at first, but that’s okay. Stay focused on the positive, and positive thinking will eventually start to happen naturally.
7. Be kind to others
Being kind to others can help you like yourself better. Acts of kindness can boost your self-confidence because you will feel like a kind and generous person. If you don’t treat others well, your self-image may plummet, leading to less liking of yourself.
8. Prepare for upcoming events
Taking time to prepare for upcoming events can help you like yourself. Studying for the test and allowing time to prepare can help you believe in yourself. You’re more likely to feel good about yourself if you know you’ve done what is necessary to achieve your goals.
Testing isn’t the only way you can feel better about yourself. You can also plan an upcoming meeting, dinner or event. Consider taking a moment to think about any experiences that come up in your life so you can prepare as best you can.
9. Get along with positive people
It doesn’t do you any good to spend time with people who criticize you, they will bring you down and make you feel bad about yourself. It interferes with how you see yourself. Letting go of anyone who makes you feel unworthy can help you learn to like yourself.
Consider taking the time to build a group of friends who support you and your dreams. They may offer constructive criticism because they want to see you do a good job. You can focus on those who want the best for you and spend less time with negative people.
10. Set Small, Achievable Goals
Achieving goals will make you feel better about yourself and help you learn to like yourself. It also helps you prepare for future success because you know you can achieve your goals.
You can set small, achievable goals while still challenging yourself. It can help you recognize your strengths and fall in love with yourself.
Each time you reach your goal, increase the goals you hope to reach next. Step-by-step progress is powerful and helps keep you motivated while teaching you to like yourself.
11. Practice Self-Compassion
Practicing self-compassion can prove beneficial to your well-being and thought process. You can experience more positivity in your life and thus like yourself more. Professor Rong explained that self-compassion involves being kind to yourself, practicing mindfulness and focusing on human nature.
12. Try psychotherapy
Professor Rong says psychotherapy can help you identify inaccurate or harmful negative thought patterns, and it can also help you develop coping strategies to reduce stress and focus on the positive aspects of your life. A counselor or psychotherapist can help you identify specific problems in your life that are causing you to dislike yourself.
References:
14 Ways to Significantly Increase Your Confidence (2017). Cornerstone University.
· Carvalho CB et al (2019). The role of shame, self-criticism, and early emotional memory in adolescent paranoid perceptions.
· Stay active and eat healthy to improve well-being and feeling good (2018). National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Kolubinski DC et al. (2020). A metacognitive model of self-esteem.
López A et al. (2018). Compassion and self-compassion for others: levels, correlations, and relationships with mental health.
·Build your resilience: recover from difficult times. (2022). Health News.
· Preston C et al. (2016). Hallucinated obesity triggers a body dissatisfaction response in the insula and anterior cingulate cortex.