Becoming comfortable in my own skin took a long time. I even wrote about it you see, so I could help others get there. You can find the post here. This certainly did not happen over night since the root of becoming comfortable was working on my self-esteem from the inside out.
How long did it take for me to build my self-esteem? Ah - now that is certainly a loaded question. The most loaded question in my mind; almost like my favorite loaded baked potato at one of my favorite restaurants. *smile* No but seriously, it took years. The number of times being knocked down, feeling like I was not enough certainly took its toll on me and I must say now I am not afraid to be great.
I began telling myself I can do the things I love on my own terms and not someone else's. No matter what everyone else was doing in their life, I had to keep going with what felt good to me. In particular, when starting this blog four years ago I was afraid to step out there. One of my first blog posts was stepping out on faith and having the courage to write when people asked me why I was doing this. Of course this started to mess with my self-esteem again especially after being newly divorced and a single mom of two children. So what did I do? I kept writing to heal and pouring my heart out into my words. The more I wrote the better I felt and doing what I loved to do, I remained consistent. There is nothing like consistency in a positive way to break an old habit.
Next, I realized self-esteem is an inside job like being comfortable in your own skin. You have to let yourself feel things and emotions and not cover up what you are feeling. This is something I used to do a lot. Even if I was sad or not feeling well, I still put on the happy face. I had to take ownership of what I was feeling and really dig deep and have the confidence to walk in my own truth and purpose.
Even still, I knew I could do more in this area so I read a lot of books, blogs, and connected with others who were also struggling in this area. And, guess what? We all have grown together. The one thing I got over was fear and once this was out of the way I made the decision to continue getting better and stepping out of my own way to be myself and be proud of the things I've accomplished.
Are you working on yourself and is there anything you would like to share? I'd love to hear your thoughts on how you boost your self-esteem. Beginning with self-care really got me to where I am today. You can grab your free self-care eBook in this post and also on the blog. I look forward to reading your comments so we can keep the discussion going. Take care of you!
