Body Image & Self-Esteem

Mental strength is a person’s capability to cope successfully with stresses, demands, and difficulties and achieve their full potential regardless of the conditions. Developing mental strength is critical to living your best life.

Just as people go to the gym and lift weights to strengthen their muscles, we can also improve our mental health by using certain tools and methods.

When we are mentally healthy, this helps us to live a life that we like, with significant social relationships and a positive sense of self-worth. It also enables us to take chances, do new things, and cope better with any tough circumstances that life may throw our way.

Mental strength is something that we can develop over time, by prioritizing our personal growth. Just as exercise and a healthy diet can bring physical benefits, good mental habits — such as practicing thankfulness — can bring mental health benefits.

To experience improvements in our physical health, we must also consider limiting unhealthy and harmful behaviors like eating junk food. In a similar way, if we want to see mental improvements, we need to give up bad habits like making negative comments about ourselves.

To learn more about building mental strength, check out BLOOM’s  Mental Strength section of the website.

Want to improve the way you see yourself, and you’re not sure where to start? Here are some strategies you can follow.

To begin, try to stop treating your body and mind as an object, and avoid comparing it to the “ideal” bodies that you see in the media. Think about how much time you spend mentally assessing how your body appears and worrying about how others see you.

You can begin to love your body by recognizing that how you think others may see you doesn’t matter, only your viewpoint matters in this regard. Take pride in yourself by standing tall with your chest wide and shoulders relaxed, to demonstrate love for your body. Continually remind yourself of all the things you like about yourself, inside and out. Remind yourself of what your body can do and accomplish. By doing these things, over time you can slowly develop an appreciation for and acceptance of your body.

We all need to appreciate our individual physical, social, and learning strengths and challenges. Maybe you feel you have social, mental health, learning or motor differences from many of your peers. This is more common than you may realize! With each of these unique differences come so many amazing strengths and abilities. Surround yourself with people who celebrate your individuality and will help you find successful role models.

Change your mindset of how you see yourself. Stop any thoughts that focus on only one aspect or part of yourself that you have negative thoughts about. See yourself as a whole person and not just negative parts.

Try to change the way you talk to yourself and about yourself from negative, to positive. To develop a healthy connection with our minds and bodies, we need to stop speaking so harshly to ourselves! We must unlearn society’s method of doing things and do things our way! Treat yourself and your body as a friend — this is a major step toward developing a good self-perception. Be kind to yourself.

Remove any negative influences that cause you to feel shame, anxious, or insecure about yourself.  This can include removing yourself from viewing negative and distorted media, or distancing yourself from anyone or anything that does not support and love you for who you are.

Above all, remember that it is alright to make mistakes along the way. Be patient with yourself; improving our everyday habits is a marathon, not a sprint. Self-love may contribute significantly to a healthy lifestyle.

Mindfulness is a kind of meditation in which a person focuses on being aware of what they are experiencing and feeling, without judgment or interpretation. Mindfulness training includes the use of guided meditations, and other relaxation approaches to help the body relax and decrease stress.

Here are 5 simple ways to cultivate mindfulness:

1. Attention –  Try to slow down and observe things around you. Make an effort to engage all of your senses while experiencing your surroundings — touch, sound, sight, smell, and taste. For instance, when you eat your favorite food, take time to smell, taste, and appreciate it.
2. Living in the moment –  Make a conscious effort to bring an open and accepting awareness to everything you do. Discover delight in little pleasures.
3. Accepting yourself – Try to respect and accept yourself as you would a good friend.
4. Gratitude – Recognize the amazing things your body can feel, do, and accomplish. View yourself as a whole person with many attributes that you are grateful for. Give yourself thanks and self-praise for the incredible things you are able to do and achieve with your body.
5. Kindness – Practice acts of giving or contributing to something that makes you feel good about yourself.

You can practice these mindfulness techniques anywhere and at any time.

Some other mindfulness activities, such as a body scan or sitting meditation, require some time in a quiet location free of distractions or disruptions. You may want to do these kinds of mental workouts first thing in the morning before beginning your daily routine.

To learn how to practice mindfulness and listen to audio practices, visit BLOOM’s Mindfulness section of the hub.