Guest List: What Happens When You Start to Love Yourself

Natalie aka @stylemesunday hardly needs any introduction. But if you haven’t already come across her Nat is fashion-savvy-force-for-good, who is fighting the fight for all us gals when it comes to body positivity.

She is the brains behind the #warriorwomanproject and somehow convinced a whole bunch of us to strip off and celebrate the skin we are in.  It was a powerful, up-lifting experience that made me re-evaluate the way I see myself.

Here she enlightens us about what happens when you start to love yourself:

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• The other morning I gave my daughter her breakfast, I had asked her what she wanted, she’s 8 so she knows what we have on offer and she chose Cheerios. Whilst she was eating I then proceeded to make myself toast with the last two slices of bread. She started complaining that she didn’t think of toast and that she wanted mine. I thought about it. I don’t like Cheerios or any breakfast cereals that we have, she does. I knew I had a busy day and I wouldn’t be eating lunch until much later than lunchtime that day. I knew my daughter had nearly finished her HUGE bowl of Cheerios and that she wasn’t really hungry but had food envy like we all get sometimes. It’s life right? So, I decided I wasn’t going to give her my breakfast, I felt satisfied that she wasn’t hungry and I also valued myself enough not to have to sacrifice my needs over the whims of my daughter. Was I being selfish? Possibly. Is it acceptable to be selfish sometimes? I think so. Even if that means putting yourself before your children sometimes? Because you love yourself, you love your family and we all deserve to be treated with love and kindness. Do my children love me any less because I don’t selflessly always put their needs before my own. I hope not, I sincerely do. The above example was just a tiny little example of what’s happened since I’ve started to love myself. Here’s some others..

• You start to be kinder to yourself. You start doing things that you know you need, like when you need a little break from everything or when you need a massage for example. You know you need it and you actually do it. 

• You don’t let people treat you like shit. You know when people are being unkind or throwing shade, well when you love yourself you are fiercely protective of yourself and value your feelings. 

• You stop self- harming and punishing yourself. With food, with extreme exercise routines, with unkind thoughts, with standing on the scales. 

• You are kinder and nicer to those around you, because you have looked after yourself first. You have more petrol in the tank.

• You doubt yourself less and start to value your opinion, you don’t just sit there quietly, you have important things that need to be shared and heard. 

• You start to really believe that that dream you had could maybe one day be a reality. 

• You start to dream bigger. Why limit yourself. After all what’s holding you back now?

• You stop worrying about what other people think of you, especially if those people don’t need to be in your life. 

• You stop doing things just to please other people or to make people like you. 

• That little voice in your head that says you’re dumb, you look ugly, you’re fat, you’re not worth anything starts to grow quieter and quieter. 

• You stop comparing yourself to others. We all know that can be tough on Instagram but you start to trust that that’s not reality as you know life isn’t like that and we all have our own battles to battle every single day. 

• You start to be nicer to people around you. You don’t feel compelled to compete with people so therefore you really value what they have to say without constantly feeling envious. 

• You will feel freer, and lighter and you will have more head space to focus on things that are really important to you and enrich your life. Like starting up that new venture you’ve always wanted to do, being a good role model, injustices that you feel passionate about, travelling to this places you’ve always wanted to visit. 

• Things that happen when you start to love yourself – you start to live life.