There is a lot to be said about how to how to have a positive self-image.
You can find many and many tips and articles.
You can find articles telling you to repeat affirmations. And you can find articles telling you to go out there and do some hard work to earn that healthy self-image.
If you’ve been reading WorthyInside for any length of time, you probably know that I’m against the affirmations and the lazy approach; I prefer doing the hard work.
A healthy self-image will come only through certain behaviors and mentalities.
Behaviors that make you proud of yourself and make you feel good about who you are as a person.
After all, self-image is nothing but a few beliefs that you have about yourself. One of the best ways to believe that you are something is to work toward becoming that something.
I can’t convince myself that I have a certain skill without actually getting that skill.
Of course, hard work is not the only thing you need to build a healthy self-image. You also need to work on your perception, you need self-compassion, and you need certain mentalities.
That said, I wrote this article to sum up everything that is related to the hard work.
I wrote this article to answer this question:
What is the one, and the only, advice that I can give somebody to help him/her dramatically improve their self-image?
It turns out that there is actually one advice that can do that. An advice that sums up the lists that are full of activities that you can use to improve your self-image.
Here you go.
How Do You Spend Your Time and Energy?
It seems that there is one quality that separates people with a healthy self-image from those who don’t.
It’s very simple but it makes a big difference.
People who have this quality tend to have a much healthier self-image. People who ignore this quality tend to have lots of issues with their self-esteem.
The good news is that you can learn this ‘quality’ and turn it into a personality trait.
Here is the quality that you need to start work on getting:
Invest in yourself.
Those who invest in themselves do things because they want to do them. They do things because they want to improve and become better.
They work on bettering themselves and their lives.
So, they go out there and learn new skills. They take care of their health. They work on their career and pursue their dreams. They push themselves outside of their comfort zone.
I know that people tell you to be generous and help people achieve their goals and be supportive and so on.
That’s good. But before you do that, make sure you work on yourself.
Be the best version of yourself you can possibly be.
Take care of your health; sleep well and eat healthy food. Develop your skills and use them to serve other people. Work on overcoming shyness or other related mental issues. Read and become more intellectual. Go out there and have more experiences and stories to tell.
Whatever activity that will help you improve as a person and grow is considered investing in one’s self. Whatever self-care activities that you practice, that’s investing in one’s self.
It may sound cliché, but doing that will transform you into the best possible version. Consequently, your self-esteem, self-respect, and life quality will improve.
That’s called investing in one’s self. And it’s the best way I know to build a healthy self-image.
All these things that you are doing are building you into a better version of yourself.
However, while you’re doing things for yourself, you are going to feel some discomfort.
If you are not used to doing good things to yourself, it’ll feel odd at first.
If you’ve spent most of your life obsessing about what other people think of you, then you probably no longer care about what you think about your own self.
Also, some people might not like some of the activities that you’re going to do.
For instance, pursuing your dreams might make some people around you feel uncomfortable because you’re trying to be better while they are not.
Starting to adopt a healthy lifestyle might rebel your friends who have unhealthy lifestyles.
But, anyway, I insist you on doing this; I insist you on investing in your own self. Whatever the cost!
Invest in yourself. Do things for your own self. Create the best version you can create of yourself.
But, before that, ask yourself this…
Wait, What Are Your Intentions?
I bet you know some people who do invest in themselves but still struggle with their self-esteem.
They do good things to themselves. They take care of themselves. They are improving and growing. But still, they feel bad about themselves and try to gain approval from those around them.
(Note: if you are truly investing in yourself, you’ll never try to gain approval or attention from anybody. More on this below.)
They could be successful. They could look confident and intellectual and healthy. But they still have self-image issues that are deep as you can possibly imagine.
What’s their problem? After all, they’re doing the right things, don’t they?
Well, it’s not enough to do the right things. You have to do the right things for the right reasons.
Their problem is that they are doing the right things but for the wrong reasons.
They are investing in themselves in order to impress those around them. In order to gain approval or attention.
They are not doing it to become better people. They’re doing it so that those around them think highly of them.
That’s insecurity at its best.
In the reality, they’re not investing in themselves. They’re investing in other people’s opinions. They are afraid of these opinions and are trying to keep them as positive as possible.
However, they fail because eventually people sense the true intentions and get turned off. Nobody likes being around those who don’t value themselves enough. Nobody likes approval seekers.
Don’t be this way.
Invest in yourself, but do it for the right reasons.
Do it for yourself. And only for yourself. To get better. To grow as a person. To become stronger. To become more.
When you do that, you’ll not need any approval or attention. You know you are doing the right things for yourself. You’re doing it for yourself.
Your self-respect will increase as a result. And consequently, those who are around you will respect you more.
Anyway, you’ll enjoy doing things for your own self and you’ll grow as a person and have more to offer. Sounds like a good way to improve your self-image to me.
The Takeaway
The one advice I can give to somebody who wants to improve their self-image is this:
Invest in yourself.
Do things for the sake of improving yourself and becoming more. Treat yourself good and do good things to yourself.
That includes anything from taking care of your health to pursuing your dreams and goals.
However, make sure you are doing this for the right reasons; check your intentions.
Don’t invest in yourself to impress those around you. Don’t do it to gain approval or to look confident and strong.
Do it because you genuinely care about yourself. Do it because you do want to do it for your own self.
It’ll take time, but it will do wonders to your self-image and to your life’s quality.