I know, I´m known as a travel and lifestyle
editor but behind that title I’m a very spiritual and deep human being. Through
my social media I got into interaction with a lot of my followers, since I was
sharing some spiritual theme content. Lately, I came across a lot of friends,
telling me their doubts and complaining about their – as they think – flaws.
This really inspired me to write an article about it and even including my own
experiences..
When I was younger, I couldn’t have been more distracted from the word selflove. It just simply didn’t exist in my world. I was overweighed and coped with a lot of trouble in school. I was extremely shy because I was limiting myself on my weight and my appearance only. I lost my voice, joined cliques and was basically just trying to be safe and not becoming a bully victim, which was kind of unescapable because whenever I had a different opinion or did something people didn’t want me to do, I got a got laugh made on me because of my weight. Back then, I believed that my weight was a flaw and I was less worthy, because I wanted to do, and society told me. Most of it all, I believed it because I compared myself and let´s be honest, it´s always easier to be a victim instead of lifting yourself up and stand in for your ideals or even yourself.
Luckily, I had a spiritual crossing with a friend of mine, who I know for more than 10 years now. She “gave” me a lot, gifted me books and helped me to grow spiritually and from my own mind, experience and knowledge. When I started my blog, my world changed and I became based on materialism and even more focused on a good look, which meant I had to be super skinny. So, with only 15 years old, I basically starved myself to the bones to look appreciable besides the models and the other bloggers. I wanted to be a someone, but actually I just wanted to be noticed and good enough because I always compared myself with people, who are actually on the same level, but I lifted them up so much and claimed myself to be less good.
I lived this way of living for a long, long time. I never thought about the fact that there could be anything else. I just believed, there has so be someone better and I have to fight and compare ALL THE TIME. As I said, I met that friend and when I started traveling that intensive, I started to heal and become loose of that as I would call it “silly” idea to be perfect, better or comparable. When I started my trip around the world, I finally started to heal all my wounds. I healed completely. What I finally managed to do is to let fully go. Let go, of all compares, let go of envy, of doubt towards myself and just appreciate and accepted me the way I am.
It´s nothing to be ashamed of but a lot of people would never dare to like or even love their self. The reason for that is simple. All our life we are trying to be perfect, to be nice and to “be”, but actually we just “appear”. We are not always trying to be nice, but we want to appear so, to make our self-look better in front of others and that´s a thought one needs to let go. Most of all, we need to love our self and accept our own decisions before we make them approvable for others. We might should try to understand our self. As I said, lately, a lot of people tell me about their thoughts, not being slim enough, not being fit enough, not stylish enough, not beautiful enough, not smart enough and so on, and on, and on. These people are wonderful, and I´m not saying it, because I know them or they are friends, I say It because everyone is beautiful as beauty is not only limited to looks. It sounds so cheesy but a lot of people don’t get the idea of what it takes to reach their goals. It needs time. Imagine the following situation:
One plants a seed of a flower. One puts the seed in the ground and water it and leaves. The person returns the next day. Who would assume that the flower would already spread its blossom? Right, it needs time, any one will need to water that flower and take care, protect it, appreciate the flower and give it time. Now, please swap the flower with yourself. It won´t happen in one day only, but even through the stages of growing, one needs to take care of oneself, one needs to “water” and love their self. I wished that long ago, I would have that kind of view on things like that, but I suffered for a while because I just wouldn’t want to like myself, because I also didn’t feel like others did. I realized that the first step to confront others and make friends is to be friend with myself.
I could possibly write a lot more lines, but I hope you got the idea. I wanted to share this, because recently self-acceptance became so hard through social media an hyped beauty ideal which make more and more people crave for perfection. I do no longer believe in perfection of trying to compare myself with anyone. I want to be individual and that´s what I do. I just accept myself every day and live in peace and harmony. When I travel I soak up on everything and get to much energy out of it. Of course, I encounter dead, pain and fear sometimes but in every situation, no matter if its physical or mental, I stay true to myself. I do really hope that these lines reached some of you and empower you to start thinking differently. Leave the shadow and step back into YOUR life – you deserve it. Why do we always try to see something bad, if we could focus on the good and live a happy life? Today is a good day, to make the first step, so let´s go.