Don’t Compare Yourself: Love Thyself

With the rise of Social Media, it has become easier for us to compare ourselves to other people. We see the growing success of our friends, family and those that we follow, and sometimes we allow that to minimize our self confidence. Sometimes we may think, “Wow, they really have their life together, I wish I was like them,” or “She is really pretty, I wish I looked like her.” This type of thinking clouds the way that we see ourselves. So, how can we stop this way of thinking? How can we embrace what is uniquely us?

Try Taking a Social Media Break:

This has helped me greatly! There are many of us who are on social media way too much, including myself. I eventually learned that constantly being on these platforms can have unintended consequences such as comparing myself to others and procrastination. For my social media break, I was only going to avoid social media for one week, but I ended up loving the break so much that I extended it for two more weeks. I have used this time to improve myself and my confidence. With the time I didn’t spend on Social Media, I was in self-reflection. I asked myself questions such as “why do I feel so inadequate,” and “why am I so hard on myself?” It was truly wonderful to not have the distraction of Facebook and Instagram so that I could focus on other things. I worked on my mental health, spent more time with my husband and worked on my novel. Due to this, I have not compared myself to anyone in a while. I have focused more on myself, my goals and family. It has been sincerely refreshing. For more information about this, check out my blog post titled “What I Learned from my Social Media Break.”

Be Your Own Best Friend:

Everyone knows the saying, “You are your own worst critic,” and I completely agree with this statement. We often repeat negative comments about ourselves in our head several times a day. We repeat negative comments such as “I’m not smart enough,” and “I can’t do this.” This especially comes into play when we compare ourselves to others. Instead of being your own worst critic, we should flip this into being our own best friend. A best friend helps you to get you through the hard times. They lift you when you are down and they bring out the best parts of you. Upon my self-reflection, I found that I would uplift my friends when they were feeling down and yet when I needed to be uplifted, I refused to do it for myself. I’m sure many of you do this as well. Instead of repeating negative comments in our mind, we need to practice positive affirmation. We need to make it a habit to uplift ourselves through positive affirmation. We need to say, “I can do this,” and “I am smart enough.” Being our own best friend will help us to see ourselves in a more positive light.

See yourself the way Heavenly Father does:

For my friends who don’t believe in God, you may skip this section if you would like. For my friends who do believe in God, I want you to really think about the character of our Heavenly Father; He is all-powerful, and all-knowing. He has created each of us uniquely in His own image and our worth is greater to him than we can possibly imagine. Do you think He sees you as less than someone who is an Instagram model or has successful business? The answer is No. He knows you better than you know yourself. He knows your dreams, desires and potential. Just like how a parent loves their children, He loves us. We are sons and daughters of a great king. If we can remember our divine worth, we will only begin to see ourselves the way Heavenly Father does.

Embrace your uniqueness:

When I think about this topic, Lindsey Stirling comes to mind. She is the greatest example of not following the crowd that I have seen. She is a free spirit who dances to the beat of her own drum. Ever since she first started making her music videos on YouTube, I was drawn to her personality as well as her music. Now, I’m not saying that we need to be dancing violinists to be unique. What I’m saying is that we all have our interests and talents. We all have things that we enjoy whether it be sports, music, sailing, botany, etc. and we should allow those things to inspire us and to grow ourselves continually. Throwing ourselves into those things that we love is one of the best ways to bring out that confidence. You don’t need to be the best at anything, you just need to love it enough to let it change you.

Conclusion:

Comparing ourselves is a nasty habit that we need to overcome. Embrace who you are! You have so much potential within you. You can get through the hard times and you can succeed. You are a force to be reckoned with. Remember who you are. Don’t let the fear of failing stop you from your goals. You got this!