By Erika Taylor
Choose a noun, read through the steps below replacing the blanks with what you come up with. Bonus, read it as many times as you want choosing as many nouns as you’d like!
Acknowledge that you don’t have the ______ you want.
It’s okay that you’re struggling to love your _____ right now. Plenty of us are. We live in a society that teaches us to blame our _____ for everything we think is wrong in our lives. We are told our _____ is broken and the only way to fix it is to take extreme measures. We need to honestly assess our current relationship with our _____, and acknowledge that we want to make some changes.
Think about why you want your _____ to be different.
More times than not, your reasons are deeply rooted in external love and acceptance. But changing your _____ does not equal happiness. For you to really learn to love your _____, you have to let go of the belief that your dream _____ will fix all your problems. Because if you don’t address why you don’t feel good about your _____ you are ripe for recruiting by the loudest voice in the room with a “quick-fix” for a problem that might not even be the one you truly want to address.
Get to know your _____ better.
Your _____ is like a friend. You may have even known them since birth or it may be a new acquaintance. Either way, if this is a relationship you want to last, it’s vital you spend quality time learning about them. Otherwise your opinion of your _____ is built on the feelings and experiences of others who have their own agenda (likely selling you something) and not your own. There are many ways to get to know your ____ better. Meditation is a proven way to practice being present and aware. Learning to spend time noticing will translate to learning so much about your _____.
Cleanse your social media of anyone who makes you feel bad about your _____.
Being regularly exposed to idealized _____s will contribute to you having lower compassion and esteem for your own _____. As will focusing on messages of only doom and gloom about the state of your _____. Unfollow, delete, spend less time on your phone, and boycott those voices that seek to overemphasize the negative. While it’s important to be honest about the current state of our _____, including its shortcomings; radical notions that seek to agitate fear, disenfranchise, and breed hopelessness do nothing to make us feel empowered to make the changes we crave for our _____. I encourage you to thoughtfully consider the voices you listen to.
Be grateful for all your _____ does for you every day.
We waste so much time thinking about all the things we don’t like about our _____. We need to shift our mindset and focus on all we do like. Everything our _____ does for us each day. Everything we’re grateful for. Not only does that put you in a more positive state, but it will help you see your _____ in a different light. So think about what you’re thankful for and the opportunities your _____ provides that you are proud of. At the same time, if you’re struggling to feel the love, don’t force it. Love might be too out of reach right now, and that’s okay. Find one or two things you appreciate and start there.
Surround yourself with supportive people.
If you spend the majority of your time with people who don’t love their _____, and are always criticizing or judging themselves or others, then you’ll take on that energy as your own. The people we surround ourselves with influence us more than we realize. That’s why it’s crucial to surround yourself with positive, empowering people. People who are willing to see their _____ as it is and do constructive work to improve the things they want to see changed.
Remember, you can choose love over hate at any time.
You have the power to direct love over hate towards your _____ at any time. “I hate my ____,” can become, “I am learning how to do the things that will make my ____ something i am proud of.”
You have the power. You’ve always had the power. So take it back today.
Erika Taylor is a community wellness instigator at Taylored Fitness, the original online wellness mentoring system. Visit facebook.com/erika.taylor.303 or email erika@tayloredfitness.com.
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