The road to self-acceptance is a long one. In today's society, we spend so much time putting ourselves down, telling ourselves that we aren't good enough, and that we don't deserve what we have. Our culture has become so negative in our perceptions of ourselves that we struggle to take credit for the things that make us great. The most upsetting thing about this trend is that it has made its way to our nation's youth.
Young children watch their siblings, parents, friends, and family. They mimic their every move and this even includes their perceptions of themselves. When a young child watches everyone else in the world hating their bodies, personalities, and flaws, that child will learn to hate themselves too.
I saw this phenomenon in the group of seventh graders that I have been working with for the past eleven weeks for my PALs class. They would all come to me and tell me how they had no reason to live, how everyone hated them, and how they had no talents. On Friday, I decided to challenge them and have them write down several things they liked about themselves as well as what made them unique. There were several students that couldn't think of anything for one or more of the questions. Many students said "Nothing makes me unique" or "I'm not special." It killed me to see these young people truly believe that they weren't worthy of loving themselves for who they were. I left them with the challenge of coming up with the positive things about themselves all on their own and hanging up the signs they made in their lockers.
Why did I force this idea so much? Simple. You can't love anyone else until you love yourself. You will never be happy until you are happy with who you are. Stop looking at the negative things about yourself and find the positives because it will change your life completely. There is no reason to hate yourself or what you look like. We are all special in our own ways. The choice to love myself and the choice to continually work on focusing on the positives about myself instead of putting myself down has made me a more happy person. I feel confident, happy, and beautiful. Take the time to find three positive things about yourself each day when you wake up and watch the transformation in your self-esteem. I promise you are worthy of self-acceptance.
Young children watch their siblings, parents, friends, and family. They mimic their every move and this even includes their perceptions of themselves. When a young child watches everyone else in the world hating their bodies, personalities, and flaws, that child will learn to hate themselves too.
I saw this phenomenon in the group of seventh graders that I have been working with for the past eleven weeks for my PALs class. They would all come to me and tell me how they had no reason to live, how everyone hated them, and how they had no talents. On Friday, I decided to challenge them and have them write down several things they liked about themselves as well as what made them unique. There were several students that couldn't think of anything for one or more of the questions. Many students said "Nothing makes me unique" or "I'm not special." It killed me to see these young people truly believe that they weren't worthy of loving themselves for who they were. I left them with the challenge of coming up with the positive things about themselves all on their own and hanging up the signs they made in their lockers.
Why did I force this idea so much? Simple. You can't love anyone else until you love yourself. You will never be happy until you are happy with who you are. Stop looking at the negative things about yourself and find the positives because it will change your life completely. There is no reason to hate yourself or what you look like. We are all special in our own ways. The choice to love myself and the choice to continually work on focusing on the positives about myself instead of putting myself down has made me a more happy person. I feel confident, happy, and beautiful. Take the time to find three positive things about yourself each day when you wake up and watch the transformation in your self-esteem. I promise you are worthy of self-acceptance.