By Osarennoma Ogbeide
How do you look at yourself? Or rather how do you see yourself? Many people look into the mirror and decide to see what they want to see instead of the image the mirror gives back to them. Now, this could be viewed from two angles. If the image you see in the mirror is one that is discouraging, then it will be good for you to see yourself as better, anticipating improvements as dwelling on the shortcomings you see won’t make you any better. It could also be that the image you see in the mirror is just right on track or even way ahead of what you’d planned. Believe me, there will always be haters, so this is where you see yourself as a success not minding the haters that stain your mirror.
At some point in our lives, we would feel at very odd lows where we think less of ourselves or other people refuse to see the good in us. This is enough reason for us to develop a positive self-image, one that can’t be tainted irrespective of people’s comments or changing seasons. If this can’t be done, one would keep seeking validation from others and when their comments don’t sit right with you, you only see a failed self-image in the mirror.
Loving yourself is very essential. Everyone is echoing self-love here and there but beyond the public awareness, you need to genuinely love yourself enough to love your own company. It is when we lack true self love that we sometimes seek the love of others in hope to feel more important. Being alone should not mean being lonely, it’s simply a time for you to enjoy your own company, being able to make yourself laugh and remembering memories only you can understand. Love yourself enough to not depend on another person to love you for you.
Self-respect isn’t farfetched; it is simply seeing yourself with value. Imagine receiving hateful comments from people and then you top it off by saying negative things to yourself. If anyone should hold you in high esteem before all others, it should be you. Be your greatest cheerleader, be confident about yourself and your decisions within you so that you won’t be in a situation where you’re in an argument with someone and you feel silly even when your facts are right just because the other chose to be condescending. That is where you should stand up for yourself and build a reputation that others respect and honour.
Most importantly, don’t be afraid to fail. Nobody likes failure quite alright but great achievers have learnt from their failures. So when people want to talk you down because you failed at something, the best response to them would be that you didn’t stop, instead you kept going until you succeeded.
