Being the best you that you can be…what does that mean to you?
We all have grown up with – and even currently maintain – an idea of how we should look. Whether those ideas are rooted in the media, or maybe even our group of peers, we tend to put unrealistic standards on ourselves. No matter the source, those standards are intimidating and can truthfully, set us up for failure.
I personally grew up never being the most perfect (or smallest) girl out there and to be honest, it’s just not in my cards to ever be that way. Like many, I faced a short time of eating disorder issues and horrible self-image problems in my early teenage years. Luckily, I realized that being healthy and able to do the physical things I enjoyed was more important than what I looked like. Trying to look like my peers or people on tv or in magazines left me with an empty, depleted feeling that really only caused me to be sick. Thankfully, I realized my value and happiness couldn’t be based on how I looked in that moment.
Focus on What’s Important
That being said, let’s refocus ourselves on what is important; positive things like eating healthy as often as we can and working out on a regular basis. What is NOT important is comparing ourselves to others. We can only give our best efforts and be the best we can be. No one should be able to tell us what that is or pass judgment on where we are currently.
Admit it; we all have things we don’t necessarily like about our bodies. We can strive to make things better, but we need to learn to love ourselves where we are right now. If we mess up and make bad decisions – whether it is food choices or missing a day or two of exercising – so what…life will go on. We will pick ourselves up the next day and strive to be the best we can be moving forward. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t use our self-discipline on a daily basis to make good decisions because we can’t “be perfect”. Obviously those daily decisions are a huge part of being the best we can be! And the daily decisions do matter!
Love Yourself
Moral of the story is…love yourself where you currently are and don’t get caught up in being compared to anybody else! If you want to compete with someone, compete with the person you used to be last week. And remember, the best you that you can be is really the only standard you should set!