MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL.

By Saachi Dholakia

August 2, 2020

"You have been criticising yourself for years, and it hasn't worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens."

~ Louise L Hay.

A lot of people talk about self-love but what does it really mean?

Well according to google it means "regard for one's own well-being and happiness." And according to quiet a few people happiness is gained from pampering one's self. Be it in the form of relaxing hot showers, scented candles, enjoying a cup of coffee while reading your favourite book, going for a jog, finding clothes you like, treating yourself to a spa day, and good food.

But self-love isn’t really just about pampering yourself. It is loving ourselves being able to look at our naked selves in the mirror for once without criticising our own bodies. It is loving ourselves and finally feeling content with where you are at in life

Is it yet self love if you want to change something about you? It is your body and it is your state of mind, if you look in the mirror and do not enjoy a certain part of the body you can very well change it and yet love your self to the fullest! You could gain or loose a few pound if that change makes YOU feel better! you can get yourself tatted if thats how you appreciate YOUR body or even get a boob job as a matter of fact! Self love does not mean that i will love myself more if i have a certain physic or a look. No! It means each person is entitled to do whatever they like with their own [damn] body. And there is zero reason for anyone to judge another person's body or their motivation for changing it.

This is the truth: self-love is not just a pretty physical process. For many of us, we need to learn how to conquer and face our demons. The first is to accept who we are which takes months to come by and it is a continuous process. Second step is to move forward and work on both our highs and lows on our journey towards our goal of self love. There may be days you are laughing loudly with your group of friends while on the others you are hiding yourself in your room, barely smiling.

Trying to suppress what we feel may seem like a solution in the moment — but the problem may grow bigger than what it originally is in the long run if it wasn’t addressed.

Can we truly love ourselves? Maybe, maybe not. As judgmental as we can be about others, many of us have ourselves as our own worst critic.

So have I found a way to get through my darkest days?

Probably not entirely, but everyday i remind that i have the choice to allow myself to grow and learn more about myself — maybe not today, or tomorrow but I’ll get there one day.