Our Summer intern 16year old Makeda Roney shares 6 ways she make herself feel better. I love this and I think that everyone should make their own.

Once again I was surfing the web, searching different things like loving your body and I came across a site that talked about “6 easy ways to feel good about yourself ”. I found it very interesting because on my last posts I touched on the topic of loving yourself and your body the way it is. On the site their advice was a bit cliché but good, like exercising and doing things that you are good at to make yourself feel good. It gave me the idea to write my own ideas of 6 ways I that I  make myself feel good  based my experiences. So here is my version of 6 ways to feel good about yourself.

 

1.     When you wake up first thing in the morning, think positive thoughts about yourself.

This is pretty cliche, but it thinking positively really brings a whole new perspective, and helps to start your day off wonderfully. I used to wake up each morning and start off my day thinking negatively about my body and my weight because either I ate too much or I did not exercise enough the day before. To get a second opinion about my self, I would go look in the mirror and if I looked like I gained weight compared to the day before, then I would not feel good about my image and my day would be ruined. I ended up having many bad days from this constant morning assessment about my body and my image and I got tired of it  and I wanted to change it. So, I tried thinking positive thoughts, rather than negative ones about myself each morning and it turned my world around. For some reason, when I thought positively about myself each morning as I woke up, I would feel great and sometimes, I didn’t even have to look in the mirror for a second opinion about my image. I started having more good days than bad days each week and it made me a happier person.

 

2.     When you look in the mirror, try to thing positively about your reflection.

Like I said before, when I look in the mirror I automatically judge myself negatively wishing the mirror would show a different reflection, one that is pleasing to me. I would wish I was thinner or had more muscle tone. I would wish my hair was different or had cheek dimples. Being a dancer, I am always standing and dancing in front of the mirror, so I am constantly judging myself, no matter what, and most of the time those judgments would be negative, affecting my dancing poorly and made me self conscious about my body as well as my dancing. When I started taking Bikram yoga (which is also done in front of mirrors), one of my teachers, Adam, would always tell us things in class like “Find something in the mirror that you loved about yourself” or “When you look at yourself in the mirror though out the class, think good thoughts about your image” and that changed my perceptive on how I felt about my image when I looked in the mirror, not only in Bikram yoga, but also in dance class and everyday life. I started to link my image more and more and accept my body for how it is and I found myself being less self-conscious about my body, my image and my dancing.

3.     When you eat, don’t just eat things that taste good, but also eat things that make you feel good.

Stressing yourself out about the foods you eat is not such a great idea because it won’t help to make you feel good. Although, trying to fit some fresh foods into your diet, might help. It does for me! When I eat only cooked foods and don’t eat any fresh foods, I get really drowsy fast, my energy through out the day goes down and when I am sluggish I am more prone to  injuries. So I make sure that I have at least one meal (out of my three meals) that consists of fresh foods and then I feel great. It helps me to have more energy throughout the day, and I get really good sleep therefore I am not so drowsy all the time.

 

4.     Don’t compare yourself to anybody

Everybody is different, unique and beautiful in his or her own way and comparing yourself to other people doesn’t do you any good. It makes you feel bad about yourself. Being a dancer, I am constantly comparing myself to others, wishing I had their feet or their legs or their extension. Its overwhelming for me after a while because I work so hard to try and make my body or my dancing look like another persons, and it never fully succeeds because we are two different people with two different bodies. I have to realize that and just appreciate myself and what I have (body wise). I can still reach my goals, but I have to work with what I have and not feel depressed because my body doesn’t look like another persons.

 

5.     Find hobbies that make you feel good.

Finding hobbies that makes me feel good about myself takes my mind off of things, like my body and my image. The brain is one part of your body that is constantly used and sometimes it needs its rest. I like to go to yoga, to go swimming, listen to music, cook and read. (Dancing is not a hobby of mine, it is my future career, although dancing is another activity that really takes my mind off of things and makes me feel good, but I when I am training I still have to be critical of myself) After doing my hobbies, my brain feels rejuvenated and I can think a lot clearer. It feels good to have a clear mind every once in a while.

6.     Drink lots of water

Along with eating good foods, drinking water consistently is very important because it cleanses the body. During the summer, the only thing I tend to drink is water and all through out summer my body looks and feels good. Drinking water consistently makes me feel good because I am hydrated,  internally I it cleanses my insides,  and externally I don’t get blemishes all over my skin and my body so I look better plus I feel more healthy.

 

Those six points are my personal 6 feel good “dos” that I found out from my own experiences of trying to find ways to feel good about myself. I exercise those six points everyday and they help me tremendously with my self-consciousness. I feel great about myself more and more each day. But just because it works for me doesn’t mean it will work for everybody, so I hope that my 6 points are really helpful to some of you, they help me. It’s just something to think about

MR