Self Acceptance: My A-Ha Moment

The number one thing that allows me to feel good about myself and keep disordered thinking and eating away is true self acceptance.

The idea of self acceptance sounds so simple, yet for many can take a lifetime to achieve.  However, I fully believe that it can be achieved right now and at any moment in time when you are willing to fulfill your desire to truly accept yourself.

Self Doubt

I remember days in junior high and high school where I truly felt lost in my body.  I felt uncomfortable and I was often consumed with thoughts on what others thought about me.  Does anyone think I am pretty? Do people think I am weird? Am I wearing too much make up? Is there something in my teeth? Am I too tall? Will anyone ever want to date me? The questions went on and on and on in my mind.

High School Graduation

I was filling my mind with negative thoughts and plain old self doubt.  I didn’t believe in myself in the slightest and often sought out others to feel validated.

As I look back on those years, I do have good memories.  I had great friends, who I still keep in touch with regularly, and we had a lot of fun.  But I would not want to relive those days.  Sure, I was younger, skinnier, and didn’t worry about my future or paying bills, but the negative mindset is something I would not want to experience again.  There’s something to be said about aging.  You certainly do get wiser.  That is if you choose to…

Flipping the Switch

Through my college years, I was inflicting misery upon myself with my disordered habits.  It was my doing, yet I thought it was helping me cope with life.  In reality, it was making my life an unhappy existence.  When a diet becomes your friend, that’s a problem.  A big problem.  And for a moment in time, my dieting habit became a friend.  I relied on it to fill a void in my life.

As time went on, I became increasingly aware of how my “friend” was really not  a friend at all.  And eventually I flipped the switch and turned my negative existence into a positive one.  I chose to change my life by changing how I viewed myself.

True Me VS Physical Me

I spent a lot of time reading and getting in touch with my spiritual side.   For me to accept who I was, I had to make a separation of the true me and the physical me.

The true me is not my physical appearance.  It is my true essence and being.  It is who I am as a spirit and it’s my heart.  It’s how I think and feel about myself and the world around me.  It’s my love, my compassion, and zest for living.

My physical body is just my outward appearance.  It’s my vessel that I use throughout this lifetime.  But it’s not truly who I am.

A-Ha Moment

As Oprah puts it, I had my “A-Ha Moment” when I finally got it.  I finally understood how to separate myself from my physical body and my spiritual self.  Somehow, it just clicked inside of me and I really understood what that meant.

With this understanding came self acceptance.  I can’t change my appearance.  This is who I am on the outside and I can either choose to accept it and live happily or I can choose to speak negatively about myself and pick my body apart, limb by limb.  I think I’ll choose my first option.

I can tell you with the up most honesty and truth that because I have chosen to truly and fully accept myself, my life is filled with so much joy, love and peace. My life really is that much better because of this simple choice: self acceptance.

Source

I hope you too can find your own self acceptance if you have not already.  Choose to be happy, loving and peaceful towards yourself and that will radiate to the rest of the world.

Have a wonderful day everyone!

A Biggie…

Today’s topic in the 30-Day Challenge is Religion.  This topic is a biggie and I’m not going to go to in depth with it because I find it to be something very personal and I don’t want to come across as ‘pushing my views’ on anyone because I am not. Everyone has an opinion on the matter and I’m sure everyone’s opinion is different in some way, shape or form.

I believe that one’s religion or spirituality is their own and if they feel strongly about it within themselves, then they don’t have to feel the need to push it on anyone else because their  view is the “right” one.  We’re all different and our views can each be right in our hearts.

My Religious Background

I grew up Catholic.  My parents were not strict, religious parents.  But they believed in God and took us to church every Sunday.  I hated going to church and would often fall asleep on my mom’s shoulder  as a young kid.  Church bored me.

I was baptized, had a First Communion and was Confirmed.  I attended CCD classes during the week growing up (also dreaded these…8 hours of school is enough!)

Although Church bored me to tears, I believed in God.  I had a strong faith deep in my soul and often prayed on my own.  I’ve always had a deep sense of knowing that there is much more than life here on Earth.  And it’s this faith that really pushes me to be the best person I can be.

Spirituality

I don’t go to church.  I stopped going in high school and just go periodically.  I’ll go on holidays every once in a while.  Other than that, I do not go to church.  I’m not against it by any means, but it’s just not something I have sought after at this point in my life.

Just because I don’t go to church doesn’t mean I don’t spend time with God.  Whenever I exercise I am in a complete, calm state.  I take this time to thank God.  I take this time to be completely without judgment and at peace.  Exercise is my meditation. It’s the main reason I am so drawn to it.  Running is especially meditative to me.  Yoga as well.

Peaceful

Thankful

I consider myself to be more Spiritual than religious.  Religion to me seems man-made and full of rules.  My faith is deeply personal and I don’t need any set of rules that tell me I am being ‘good’ or ‘bad’.  That’s between God and I.   So with that, I don’t follow any religion at this point in time.  Can that change? Sure.  But for now, I am OK with my relationship that  I have with God.

Question:

Do you consider yourself religious, spiritual, both or neither?