How Embracing Imperfections Can Help You Love Yourself More Easily
If you look to any self-help discourse popular in 2023, sooner rather than later you’ll come across the concept of self-love. It seems that for wholly appropriate reasons, more and more people understand that you can’t improve if you don’t accept yourself for who you are. After all, what will you be improving into if that doesn’t first start with an accounting of who you are?
It’s also true to think that in order to improve, we need to resolve all of our flaws and only focus on the perfect character traits that will never fail us. But while that may seem like a noble goal, it conveniently leaves out the truth that none of us will be perfect.
In Japanese culture, “Kintsugi” refers to mending broken ceramics, including pots and cups, even when broken. Often, repaired cups are considered more valuable than their brand-new and flawless counterparts, which means they’ve undergone experience and have come out better on the other side.
So, with that mindset to rely on, let’s consider how embracing imperfections can help you love yourself more easily:
Embracing Your Vulnerabilities
Embracing your vulnerabilities is more than just letting yourself feel weak, it’s about realizing there’s nothing wrong with having imperfections. It’s also about accepting that soothing insecurities can take time and work on loving yourself. Most of all, it means accepting that which you can’t change and being grateful for it anyway. This can help you focus on what you can improve, such as using SmilePath to help sustain your best smile, while also realizing a hairlip is no big deal and can even work for you.
Reframe the Discussion About Insecurities
The stories you tell yourself will often be accepted as fact, and that’s important to recognize. Learning this will help you alter just how you speak to yourself. For example, it might be that your body has changed after pregnancy, but that doesn’t mean it’s “worse,” it’s the body of a mother who has given birth to healthy and loving children. What could be more valuable than that? Understanding that almost always you have nothing to apologise for or feel inferior for, you can think more clearly about your unique characteristics.
Surround Yourself With Positive, Grounded People
It’s important to surround yourself with people who are positive and helpful, and accepting of you no matter what form you take. That might sound obvious, but you’d be surprised just how damaging a group can be if they criticize you too much, question your fashion choices, or perhaps are needlessly cruel about one another and how they look. This can be seen as normal if you’re used to a group like this, but once you find someone who isn’t afraid to lift your spirits and comment on how wonderful you look when you meet them, you notice just how this is the hallmark of a great friendship. So, don’t be afraid to find those who offer that, knowing that even a loving criticism from someone like this can be so much more helpful than a false compliment.
With this advice, we hope you can see how embracing imperfections, and being in the right environment can help you love yourself more easily.
