EmBODY Confidence: A Tribute to Self-Love

This is not an excuse to sit on the couch and eat 834 donuts and 53 pizzas, but it is an excuse and reason for you to love the skin that you are in at this moment. It is so easy to find flaw in your body and outer appearance; what you see in the mirror when no one else is looking is not always the most ideal sight. Coming from someone that has felt a lot of different ways about my own body, I want to encourage everyone that reads this to liberate themselves from negative thoughts of their body appearance. A lot of times you will hear, “it’s not about what’s on the outside, it’s the inside that counts.” Though this statement is valid, what you think about your external appearance can affect how you feel about yourself through and through.

Whether it be the stubborn pimples on your forehead, the extra sag of your second and maybe third chin, the way that your stomach protrudes a little bit more than you asked it to, dimples of cellulite in your thighs, or underarm flab deciding that it wants to wave when you do: there’s always at least one thing that we just can’t seem but to dislike about ourselves. It’s not that these things that have been programmed as imperfections in our brains are not as beautiful as the rest of us, we’re just not taught to love them as if they were as perfect as everything else. THEY ARE! Anything that you may not love about yourself is lovable, and the first person that needs to love it is you. Everything that is so easy to dislike or feel insecure about are just areas to show a little more love and a lot more acceptance toward.

Everybody is so beautifully different, and the flaws come not from our appearance, but from the comparison of our beauty to that of another. Your beauty is original and unique from the beauty of someone else. Beauty has no exclusivity; a nice body is not limited to people of a size-two build—or those with long hair or lighter skin. External beauty is often interdependent on confidence, a feeling that we can control. This means that your external beauty is well within your control: your confidence can change your whole view of yourself. Confidence is the best make-up, workout, filter, waist trainer you could ever put on. Simple confidence-builders like complimenting yourself in the mirror when you wake up, or putting affirmative sticky notes around your room can be slow but sure rebuilders of a necessary confidence. Love yourself, for you are a canvas that will be painted with many great things; the colors will pop most over a positive and confident canvas.

Bonjour mes amies! My name is Jayla Blakemore and I am a student at The University of Georgia pursuing a degree in Psychology. I love good food, great music, making people laugh, doing hair that is not my own, and spending time with my friends. I live by three short phrases: “Trust God.” “Be educated.” and “Spread love.” Make what you will of each of them. I am more than excited for sharing my writing with all of you, and embodying all the positive things life offers!

#selflove #selfempowerment #bodyissues