Love Yourself...Exactly Where You Are

If you read magazines, watch TV or browse the internet, you are being bombarded with images of beautiful models with clear skin, zero wrinkles and perfect bodies. It's so easy to compare yourself to these perfect images and feel like you aren't good enough; like you should look different, or weigh less, or change something about yourself.

I've always been a magazine lover and I can remember getting my first subscription to Seventeen magazine as a teenager.  The pictures always showed smiling, well put together girls.  It didn't occur to me then, but I remember looking at the pictures and wishing I could afford those type of clothes, or that I could apply make up as well.  Of course that was in the 80's before the creation of Photoshop.  Today, a photographer can take a perfectly flawed person and make them look like a supermodel.  We've all seen the comparison pictures on the internet.

This week I had my own Photoshop experience.  I needed a new head shot for work.  After taking the picture the photographer asked "how young do you want to look?"  I told him to "clean me up."  As I sat and watched him work his magic; it really hit home with me.  So much of what we see and compare ourselves to isn't real.  It's a fantasy created with an expensive program on a computer.

When I look at my before picture, I see wrinkles created by smiling so much over the years.  Yes, my eyes are squinty; but that's me.  I haven't always taken care of myself as well as I should, but I've lived 47 full years.  Why would I expect to look like a 20 year old, or a 30 year old for that matter?

So my message today is don't compare yourself to others.  Even if you're working on becoming your best self, love yourself through the process.  Aging is a privilege denied to many.  Choose to age gracefully and be authentically you.

Love yourself exactly where you are!

Sue
sueharkerfitness@gmail.com

#selflovewarrior
#teambalancedlife