Love Yourself No Matter What
I've Lost 71 Pounds in 35 Weeks
For the past 35 weeks I have been doing my own version of the keto diet and I have lost over 70 pounds. At Thanksgiving my eldest son Derrick made a comment that I was "Unrecognizable". I liked hearing that.
Here is one of the most important things I have learned over the past 35 weeks. Every time I looked in the mirror I did not like what I saw. I felt ashamed, embarrassed, and at times like a miserable failure. The motivation that kick-started things for me was disgust and anger. I felt disgusted with myself for the way I looked and then I felt angry at myself for letting me get to that point.
Those two emotions, disgust and anger, are not healthy to carry around from day to day to day. They should be treated as "wake-up" calls that a change is needed, and not used as fuel to keep things going.
The most important thing is to love yourself. That doesn't mean you have to like yourself. Like and love are two totally different things. When I looked in the mirror I did not like what I saw. I did not like what I looked like. I did not like me. All of that was okay. What was not okay was using all those "unlikes" to say things such as "Mike you look so bad, you are not worthy of being loved. You suck!"
I had to learn to allow myself to love myself... no matter what. This can be hard to do if you have been bashing yourself for a long time like I did. It's like hurting your own feelings. And because it's you doing this to yourself, you know right where to go to inflict the most damage in the shortest possible time.
Here's what I've learned, better late than never right! If your best friend did something or said something to you that you didn't like, you'd get angry, annoyed, or mad. You might might even ignore your best friend for a period of time. Did you ever stop loving this friend. Of course not.
Well guess what, you are the very best friend you will ever have. So, love yourself no matter what. Now, go find your hug song and listen to it anytime you want a hug from yourself.