02 Jul These 33 Self-Acceptance Tips Will Help You Love Yourself As You Are
via Parade by Stephanie Oliveira Nguyen
RuPaul—drag royalty, writer and Emmy-winning reality TV host— famously asked, “If you can’t love yourself, how the hell are you gonna love somebody else?” Potent words during Pride Month, when the exuberant celebration of being oneself can overwhelm those who are still working on embracing the person in the mirror. If you are still questioning your identity or your place in either community or home, know that your ache is not a lonely one. The violet stripe on the Pride flag stands for soul, or spirit, which is a facet of self that we all need to feel whole, and getting there can be a lifelong struggle.
The art of valuing yourself for who you are is like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger you get. While some people naturally give themselves a million-dollar “price tag,” the truth is that they are a minority of the population. Placing value on yourself, warts and all, is a task with which even the most confident can struggle. Self-acceptance takes work. And what better time to start than Pride Month?
Through proven steps meant to increase your total self-acceptance, you can accept the person in the mirror … and even fall in love with them! Greater self-acceptance improves emotional well-being, according to Harvard Health, and that’s a goal we should all strive toward every day. The following tips will help you bulk up your self-acceptance by looking for the good in both yourself and others.
Self-Acceptance Boot Camp
1. Stop questioning where you are in life. You are here—like on a map—and self-acceptance starts by working with your truth, not against it.
2. Don’t blame yourself for your current situation. Blame has never helped anyone feel good or even better.
3. Don’t judge others. When we accept others, we are going through the actions of accepting ourselves.
4. Know that pain doesn’t automatically equal suffering. It is okay to hurt, but you control how you handle it.
5. Be aware, but don’t judge. You have qualities you like and qualities you want to change. Don’t assign values like “good” or “bad” to them…
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