And I’m back….

Hi all.

Wow, I was looking back at my last posts and have realized that my blog has become a bumbling blob of negativity – so not cool. No but really. I was tempted to delete the last few posts and even though it’s still a tempting option, I realize this blog is meant to sort of document my journey – and my journey has its ups and downs.

But I’m ready to switch the down back into an up again – so here goes.

I already started feeling better last night- after a upbeat Zumba class coupled with some awesome “So you think you can Dance” action – I felt much more ready to look at things from a more constructive, outside perspective. So lets get down to the facts – shall we.

Switching to  a “paleofied” (because I have never full on paleo) has helped me in a lot of ways – health wise. I realized my body is not a fan of grains – not sure why, not sure if it’s forever – but for now – it’s a fact. Possibly because for all my years of being a vegetarian they were practically the only thing I ate besides vegetables and fruit, I lost the balance somewhere and my body decided I had overdone it,

Also fruit – I love it, I eat it, but it does crazy things to my blood sugar levels. Let’s face it – I have a messed up metabolism from all the crazy things I have put my body though – no surprise there. And I do need to play around it a bit, because when I “let it all go”, bad things happen.

Fact – my body doesn’t trust me yet. Although I am at a healthy weight, have more energy than every and feel much better then I have in a long time – it will still take a while to restore the balance  with my body that I need. I believe it’s possible, and at some point in time food will just be food to me. But till then – I will work with what I’ve got that be thankful things are as good as they are.

Anyhow – back to the paleo diet – I believe it works if you do it right – problem was I wasn’t doing it right. I like food – I like eating 5-6 times a day. It does get inconvenient sometimes, especially when I’m really busy – which is when paleo really appealed to me. But intermedient fasting , eating one huge meal a day etc – not me so much.  My meals had become boring and monottonous – and I believe the reason for my binging was because was missing some vitamin or mineral somewhere along the line. Thinge were getting out of balance, I was becoming afraid of certain foods – too much sugar etc, and substituting them for unhealthy yet “safe” food – for instance – diet coke.

So now it’s time for a change, time to get back to the basics of healthy eating. Grains still won’t be a regular part of my diet – because I just feel better without them. But I want to experiment with adding some more beans and legumes to my diet. Yes maybe they’re the “devil” but I miss hummus in my life.

I am tired of trying to fit into a mold of good and healthy. I love to lift so I will do that, but I love to run so I will do that to. I love to dance so I will do Zumba (chronic cardio my ass). I love to eat so I will eat. I love to read so I will read and I love to cook so I will cook again. And every time I fall I will get up to fight ten times stronger. Because I love to live 🙂

And here are some things that have been making my life amazing recently

A quick snack – strawberries, protein powder and quark

Turkey burgers and salad

Perks of being a teacher – end of the year chocolates

A recent staple breafast – 2 ingrediet pancake, strawberries, peanut butter and yogurt

A on-the-go salad. Eggs, deli turkey meat, salad.

We all have a choice.

Happy monday everyone!

Hope you all had an enjoyable and relaxing weekend.

I had my first classes at uni – and to be honest I am kind of exhausted.  Not sure if it’s from getting up at 5:00 AM and arriving home at 8:00 PM or the nearly non-stop classes I have nearly 11 hours straight , but whatever it is – it takes it’s toll on you.

Starting this new year I feel a mixture of nervousness and exitment. I’m enjoying almost all my classes so far (except for bio-chem which is freaking me out more then just a little bit) but it’s also going to be a bunch of work. I know that last semester I didn’t manage the stress so well and ended up with a near nervous breakdown and severely damaged my health to boot. But this year I’m determined to do better.

One thing I’m coming to realize more and more is that we may not choose what happens to us – but we can always choose how we react to what happens to us. I used to be really big on blaming my situation for my physical and mental state of being. I wouldn’t do this out loud of course, but somewhere in my subconcious I justified my actions and wrong choiced because I was faced with “difficult circumstances”.

Let’s give an example. Over the summer someone very close to me went though a severe bout of depression.  Although I fought to continue on with my good habits and take good care of myself – I found this persons behaviour very triggering. I felt helpless that I wasn’t able to help and guilty because I felt it must be somehow my fault. I often used my situation as an excuse not to push myself as hard as I should have. I felt like “well I can handly be expected to be in this situation and not be affected by it. Not only do I have to carry my own burdens – but I have the responsibility of taking care of my family as well. So if I don’t push myself (in recovery) as far as I should, it’s really not my fault or my choice”.

I’ve come to realize that nothing could be further from the truth. No, I don’t have control over the situation, but I can control the way I react to this situation. I ALWAYS have a choice.

Life is full of stress, unpleasent situations, difficult relationships and hard times. This might sound pessimistic- but it’s the truth. So if you’re waiting for the perfect situation to recover, or be happy, or push towards your goals (whatever they may be), you’re in for a LONG wait. In fact, chances are you’ll spend your whole life waiting for “just the right moment” and never get anywhere.

Happiness is a choice we make each day. Every day when we wake up in the morning we determine how our day will go. If we choose to be happy, we will be. Sure our plans might mess up, we might have personality clashes with people, bad things might happen. But our ATTITUDE is ultimatly what will determine the outcome of our day.

Recovery is a choice we make each day. No matter what challanges we face we can choose to ignore those pesky little voices in our heads, or defy those bad habits – or we can give into them. No one can make us go one way or the other, no set of circustances can be ultimatly to blame – the choice is ours.

Pursuing our goals is a choice we make. If you’re determined enough you can be or do anything – no matter what lies ahead of you (here’s some living proof if you think otherwise). If you decide that you want something no matter what, you’ll be able to handle whatever obstacles life throws at you – because in your mind you’ve already acheived your goals.

So no more excuses for me – no more using stress, a difficult finantial situations or complicated home life to justify backing out of my commitments. I’m going to keep fighting and moving ahead no matter what – and I am going to acheive my dreams and goals and be happy and healthy while I’m at it.

Today I choose happiness, health and to live a fullfilling and meaningful life. What’s your choice?

What is a big challange you conquered or goal you acheived during your life?

 

It’s ok

 

1. To eat peanut butter topped banana oats till you can’t think of them anymore (I think I’m going on a PB detox for real this time).
   

   I just realized how ugly the PB looks on there 😛

2. To eat really ugly looking food, and enjoy every bite full.
   

   This was delicious - double egg omlett with chickpeas and nutritional yeast - plus a side of green beans and unpictured (because there was no room on my plate) bread

3. To dump a bunch of random food in a bowl and call it breakfast.
   

   All real food though ;P. Cold cottage cheese/banana oats topped with yogurt, almonds and cherry jam

4. To go home for the weekend, and eat more chocolate and cake then you have all week.
   

   A late woman's day treat - ate way more of these then I have in a LONG time and LOVED every bite.

   

   Two kids birthday party in one week = lots of cake

5. TO pack really weird snacks in your bag, and feel awesome about it.
6. To have a few bad days, because they are always followed by good ones.

It’s all ok!

Thank you all for your comments on my last post.  I had a few rough days, but the sun and warm weather , and your support is making each day better then the last 🙂

What’s been “ok” for you this week ?

Banish body bashing

I’m not sure id if Woman’s Day is celebrated all over the world (I don’t think so) – but we sure are celebrating it is this country. All day I’ve been seeing girls parading around with roses and yellow tulips. And although I didn’t get a flower, I got chocolate and a “free-pass” from a test today and that’s good enough for me.

So in honor of womans day, I wanted to do a post honoring women.
I’m not sure if it’s caused by society at large or the westernized culture we live in, but I feel like us women are expected to be extremely critical of ourselves. We are expected to groom and primp like there’s no tomorrow, and still never be satisfied with our results. We are expected to deny ourselves little pleasures in life (like my lab partner who turned down her woman’s day chocolate, because she is on a diet), force ourselves to extreme feats – all in the name of beauty.

But what is beauty really?  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder – it’s a very cliché saying, but it rings so true. Have you ever met someone who would be considered “plain” or “normal” judging from a purely physical standpoint, but that had such an outstanding and loveable personality that it actually made them more attractive? I have a few friends like this, and when someone else made a crack about one of their flaws I felt offended – because their imperfections were totally drowned out by their wonderful personality, to the point that the only way to describe them would be beautiful. Unfortunately the sad thing is that even though we can appreciate and recognize these traits in others, rarely are we able to see them in ourselves. We do so much negative self-talk on a day to day basis, that it’s almost impossible for us to see ourselves as other’s see us.

I’m going to take a personal example here. While looking through some old pictures of myself I stumbled upon one that always seemed to make me cringe.
Although this may seem like an ordinary photo to you, the point in time that it was taken was critical. I remember being having VERY bad body image at this point, and I think it was taken just before my second ED relapse.
To be honest, the first things I did when I saw this picture was pick out the flaws. Wasn’t that hard to do, because I found myself subconsciously looking for them. It’s actually a reoccurring theme with me that instead of looking for the good in my outward appearance I looked for the flaws. Anyhow, here’s what I found.

But then I decided to take another view point and look for what someone else might find attractive about this picture. I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t easy and took longer than I expected, further reinforcing the fact that this is something I should be doing more and more of in my life.Here’s picture nr 2.

So in honor of womans day, let’s make an effort to see ourselves as others see us, and look for the frills and not the flaws. Dare to look in the mirror and say “Hey there beautiful” – because that’s what you are! Dare to be confident in your traits and the things that make you unique. Dare to love yourself, because only then can others really love you.

Right here, right now I challenge you to name 5 things you like about yourself .
I’ll start:
I’m a good listener.
A have pretty eyes.
I have a nice smile.
I am a hard worker
I care about other and try to put their needs above my own.

Now your turn 🙂

Have a great day!!

Mirror, mirror on the wall

Some days it’s hard to look in the mirror.

Actually for me it’s more like most days.

 

 

Since I don’t weigh or measure myself, the mirror tends to be one of the few things I base my body image on. And I’m coming to realize it’s really not the most reliable of sources.

It’s amazing how from one day to the next what I see is vastly different. On some days I’ll see a fairly attractive, albeit somewhat underweight girl. Although those days are few and far between. Usually it swings between two extremes. One day I’ll see a sickeningly thin, ugly girl – a frail shadow of what she once was. On other days I’ll see a disproportionate figure, with weight in all the wrong places. But no matter which one of these extremes it is, I end up leaving feeling discouraged about myself, unhappy and insecure.

The truth of the matter is that often times what we see in the mirror is actually subjected to our moods. If I’m having a good day – if someone paid me a compliment or I accomplished something really important – I’ll look in the mirror and see the “pretty” me. On days I feel dissatisfied with myself, I make a mistake or mess up, on days where others are unkind towards me I see the “ugly me”. I usually see the “sickening thin” version of myself when others treat me unkindly or hurt me. I see the “fat” me when I’m feeling unhappy about myself or I don’t live up to my own expectations.

What I’m coming to realize more and more is that I need to stop basing my self-worth and body image on what I see in the mirror. Am I at a 100% healthy weight yet? Probably not. But I am getting there. So beating myself up about being too thin won’t encourage me along in that effort. More often than not it makes me feel like there’s no point in even trying, and I might as well quit. Then on the other hand the disproportionate, “fat ” person I see in the mirror isn’t exactly an accurate image either.

Some days I need to avoid the mirror all together, because it’ll only drag me down further then I am already.  But I need to practice seeing the good side of myself as well. There’s always something I like about myself – even if it’s something as “insignificant” as my eyes, or my smile, or my straight teeth. From now on whenever I’m having a “lying mirror” day I am going to practice finding something I do like about myself and focusing on that. Hopefully by doing so I will gain a better perspective on who I really am and what positive qualities I do posses, as opposed to focusing on the image that is dictated primarily by my emotions.

Now over to you:

Have you ever had the “lying mirror” experience?

Is what you see in a mirror dictated by your emotions?

How do you  counter those negative thoughts?

What an eating disorder has given me.

When people talk about eating disorders they almost always talk about its negative effects on people – emotionally, physically on pretty much all levels. We hear stories about other people’s experiences with this illness and we usually go away remembering the terrible things that happened during that period in their lives. I think it’s pretty safe to say that our thoughts are ones of relief that that period in their lives (and is some cases ours) is over, and they have moved on to bigger and better things.

But today I’m not here to talk about the years of my life my eating disorder has taken from me, or the damaged health I suffer as a consequence. I’m not going to describe the emotional trauma I felt during that time, or how it affected my relationship with others on every level. I’m going to talk about what I have gained from an ED.

They say there is a bright side to every situation, a light at the end of the tunnel is another way of putting it. But so often people fail to realize that in order to get to that “light” you have to go through that tunnel. For me, my ED was that tunnel. Living through it was hell, and I would never, ever want to go back to that hell ever again. But now that I have reached the light, I realize that although my struggles with this illness has taken a lot from me, it has also given me something.

I now have a new appreciation for my body and health then I’ve ever had before. The few health problems I have remind me to take the time to take care of myself in order to stay healthy. If I overdrink, over-exercise, under=eat or under-sleep I feel the consequences almost immediately. And while some might consider this a bad thing, I see it as something positive. Many people lead unhealthy lifestyles for years and are able to ignore the mild repercussions of their actions. That is until they have serious, and occasionally life threatening and fatal, medical problems and complication. But by then a lot of damage has been done, and in some cases it’s already too late.

Another thing I’ve gained is a greater awareness of how I fuel my body through the foods I eat. I try to make wise, healthy choices on a day to day basis that contribute to my well being – both physically and emotionally. That means a hearty bowl of oats in the morning for my physical body, and an ice-cream dessert in the evening for my emotional “health”. Before developing my eating disorder I didn’t pay much attention to what I ate and drank, and I definitely could have afforded to make some changes in my diet.

And lastly I have gained a greater knowledge of myself. I feel like my experiences and struggles have made me relatable to a lot more people. Not only people with eating disorders, but people who have gone through intense emotional struggles. I feel like I have learned things about myself that I couldn’t have any other way. I know how strong I am, and how I can accomplish anything I want if I simply don’t give up. I realized that I cannot let the past and it’s events control who I am and how I act today. My quality of life has greatly improved because the difficulties I was faced with during recovery showed me how much I am loved and appreciated by those around me, and just how much they are willing to go through for me. The knowledge that there are people who firmly believe that the world would be a worse place without me is something I will forever hold near to my heart and treasure.

This is not in any way to say that my ED is something I would choose to go through voluntarily, or wish upon anyone else. But the point I’m trying to make here is that there is good in every dark situation and difficult experience we go through – if we’ll only take the time to look for it.

 

Any thoughts?

A “ruined” morning.

I woke up yeasterday with this song running through my head:

And basically that’s what I did all day long – absolutely nothing.

Well that’s not exactly true:

As predicted I made pancakes for breakfast:

Banana oatmeal pancakes topped with yogurt and a very, amazingly juicy nectarine – definitely the favorite breakfast of the week.

Followed by a kick-ass workout, blogging, lunch, a nap, and some TV watching.

Then I spied some bananas that were so dark they could only be used for one thing:

BAKING

I made my first attempt at granola:

Banana honey granola with peanuts, raisins , sunflower seeds and flax seeds.

And I made the worlds easiest vegan “cookies”.

I actually forgot all about the oil when making them – so they were just oats, bananas and dates – delish!

The evening ended with 2 glasses of white wine and a movie with friends.

This morning I woke up bright and early. In fact it was a bit TOO early for my liking, but I just rolled with it. My friends and I planned a trip to town later on, so I didn’t mind being up a little earlier since I wanted to squeeze in a quick workout. Plus, I wanted to make some baked banana oatmeal and that takes a bit of time. So a got all the oatmeal stuff ready, stuck it in the oven and had a great workout. However breakfast was when things got a bit tricky. I share a flat with several of my friends and apparently they felt free to trash it out and wait for the first person up (ie. Me) to clean it up. Well I started doing just that when I opened the oven only to discover that my banana oats had overcooked. Not only that but since I wasn’t following a recipe when making them they turned out VERY bland. And the stuck to the ramkin when they were coming out – not cool 😦

Pretty sad huh? Especially if you compare it to this:

At this point I decided to call my friends to find out if we were still going out ( we were supposed to leave in 20 minutes) but my phone call ended up waking them up. I figured that meant that our trip was cancelled so I got to work preparing a better breakfast – French toast. Well halfway through making them I realized that the pan hadn’t been washed properly and my French toast had a distinct garlic flavor- not cool. At this point I was ready to eat my arm off, so I settled for a unusual (for me) breakfast – cereal with a banana and yogurt.

Halfway through eating I got a call asking where I was and informing that my friends were all ready to leave. I didn’t have the heart to tell them to wait while I got ready, so they went on ahead.

Naturally I was upset, frustrated and pretty unnerved by all of this. But after calming down a bit I realized that there were good sides to this situation. I was able to finish my breakfast – something I like doing in a calm setting. There were some household chores I wanted to do around the house that I wouldn’t have time for during the week. I WAS pretty tired and could use a nap at some point. And I would be able to have some alone time, without constantly being surrounded by people.  I might even have the time to take that long walk in the woods and go blueberry picking like I had been wanting to for some time. Suddenly the morning didn’t look so “ruined ” after all. I have the opportunity to make the best out of a bad situation, and I’m gonna use that to the full.

I realize that feeling sorry for yourself and moping around is nothing more then I giant waste of time. In my opinion the best thing to do when things go wrong is look at it as a challenge and try to use the situation to your advantage – no matter how “bad” things may look. It’s always good to look on the bright side, because that’s where all the fun is 😉

Did you do anything fun over the weekend?

How do you usually cope when things don’t go your way?

Carpe diem – seize the day

So often we go through life without really living. We get from one day to the next- only to collapse in the evening and think “thank God that day is over”. And that’s the way we live each and every day – from the moment we wake up till the moment we lie back down. We get so caught up in work, responsibilities, deadlines and to-do’s that we go through life without really living it.

I decided that I was doing far too much of the above recently, so I decided to reverse the cycle.  I did all the things I loved – and it was a near perfect day.

I woke up bright and early (5:00) AM with the sun streaming through my window. After a little deliberation I grabbed a coffee and a cracker + banana, laced up my sneakers and went for a run.

I’m not a distance runner, because I just can’t do that and enjoy it. So I ran for only about 40 minutes – with a smile on my face the whole time. It’s on days like these I honestly LOVE exercise and the way it makes me feel.

I also love grooving out to this song while I run, and have the occasional driver passing me give me strange looks. Life’s too short to be miserable people! Or to care what others think of you for that matter.

I came home to the sound of quiet snoring – apparently no one else was in the “early bird” groove for the weekend. But I had something I’ve been wanting to try for far too long – and today was the day.

The bananas were a delicious brown and the oven was was calling my name. You guessed it – it was time to make banana bread.

 

And since life’s too short to waste waiting to buy a appropriately sized bread pan- I made it in a cake pan.

As the delicious smells of banana bread wafted through the kitchen (banana bread reminds me of my childhood because I had an uncle who used to have his own bakery who used to come over and make it all the time) I assembled my own breakfast.

Creamy oats topped with a banana, almonds and homemade blackberry jam.

Life’s too short to waste rushing around – so I made sure to really savor this breakfast.

Almost the minute breakfast became a memory it was time for the banana bread to come out – I did a test taste right out of the pan of course and saved the rest for snack.

A quick trip to the library was next on the agenda, and although it was closed, life’s too short to waste on regrets, I made a quick trip to the farmers market and bought some fresh produce (I was still able to stop by the library on the way home).

At home I made a tasty, quick lunch and took a nap. Lazy – maybe, but life’s just too short to waste on doing only what you SHOULD do and ignoring what you WANT to do.

Then I proceeded to make a yogurt mess with my banana bread and since everyone else in the house was lusting after my snack – I made them one too. A banana bread smoothie was the order of the day. Life’s just too short to spend thinking only about yourself.

That was followed by some book reading and yoga – life’s too short not to spend time doing the things that make you happy.

Dinner was also something new – broccoli polenta and beans . After all life’s too short to spend in your comfort zone – step out and try something new.

Then I attempted to watch a movie with my friend. We COULD not for the life of us get it to work. We had about every difficulty imaginable with getting it up and running. In the end we ended up watching it on 3 different computers (in sequence), with 2 different sets of speakers (switching half way through) and with at least 8 technical errors during the course of the movie. But hey – life’s too short to give up on something you really want to do.

Moral of this story is- carpe diem people!

Fill in the blanks – life’s too short to…..

What did you do today to “seize the day”?

Keep holding on.

Often times I want this blog to portray who I want to be as opposed to who I am. I write on the days I feel happy and positive – days the sun is shining, the birds are singing and it feels good to be alive. On days when I struggle, days I feel lost and alone, days I don’t know where my life has headed I try to hide from the world. They say laugh and the world laughs with you – cry and you cry alone – and I believe that’s true. So I try to keep things as positive as possible around here, and keep the uglier side as obscured from view as possible.

 

But in life we all face hardships and difficulties, we all face set backs and disappointments. We all experience failure, disappointment, hurt. It’s a part of life. And sometimes we need to forget about that smiling face and reach out to those around us – those who want nothing more then to help and support us if we will only let them.

For the past few days I’ve been really struggling. I’ve been experiencing depression, a sense of hopelessness and loneliness. In my attempt to keep up a “positive attitude” I’ve alienated myself from those around me that could help me. Instead of reaching out I’ve pulled back – and I’ve been slowly paying the price.

I find myself slipping back to old coping mechanisms and habits. These aren’t even necessarily even ED related – although some most certainly are. But related to my eating disorder or not , they are all negative. Negative and addicting all the same.

Without going into too much detail I will say I have used alcohol as a coping mechanism in times past. Not to an extreme by any ones standards – but alcohol is never an appropriate way of dealing with ones emotion. And once I start the cycle of drinking to forget my troubles it becomes a cycle that’s hard for me to break out of.

But enough is enough. I am the one responsible for ending this cycle and I am the one that will. No matter how tough things are, or how dark and dreary my future looks engaging in my negative coping mechanisms will not make anything better. I may not be able to control my circumstances – but I DO control my attitude towards them. They say the world looks brighter when you wear and smile – and I’m determined to let some light back into my life.

Aside from that I am reaching out to family and friends who are able to help. I’ve come to realize there’s  no shame in asking for support when you need it. It takes a strong man to get up when he falls, but an even stronger man to ask for others to help pull him up.

 

So, no, my life isn’t always peachy. I still struggle through recovery, I still have days I crave for the numbing restriction gives me. Urges come and go, but I choose not to give into them . I choose to hold on and keep holding on, no matter what.

 

Ps: Thank you all for your encouragment on my last post. Reading them has given me more then enough motivation to keep pushing through my current difficulties and making steps in the right direction.

Beating the body image blues

Do you ever have days when you look in the mirror and everything looks wrong? Your hair just can’t seem to get in place no matter how many times you brush it, everything you wear just feels wrong? While you usually can see at least some positives in your appearance you now look in the mirror and see someone that has only flaws.

 

I get days like this fairly often. There was a point in my life that every day was one of “those” days. It’s a rough thing to go through, and it’s even harder to know what to do about it. In the past I would lock myself in my own little world, avoiding people and social life of any kind. I just felt so undesirable that I could hardly stand being around myself, and I couldn’t even imagine how others would put up with me. I felt undeserving of their time and attention, unwanted and like an additional “tail” that people couldn’t wait to get rid of. Of course none of these things were actually true, but my mind did a good job of convincing them that they were. Naturally – this kind of negative self talk never gets you anywhere. It only makes you feel worse about yourself. It seems as soon as you start picking on a negative point about yourself – in this case your appearance – it snowballs out of control till you can’t think of one good thing about yourself. But there is a way to counteract this negative cycle. It’s a difficult thing to do, and it may be the thing you least feel like doing. One thing is guaranteed however – the longer you dwell on those voices the stronger they grow. So the sooner you make the choice to reverse this negative cycle of thinking, the better!

Here are some things that help me in beating the body image blues:

• Make an effort to look nice.Yes, this will be the last thing you feel like doing, because nothing will look “good” anyway. Chances are you’ll feel like wearing and oversized t-shirt and sweats, not brushing your hair and staying in bed. But making the effort to look nice has a psychological effect on you – it will boost your self confidence. Even if you don’t feel particularly “pretty” with your hair done and make up on, it’ll make you feel better.

• Positive self talk. I can’t stress this one enough. Repeat encouraging things about yourself even if you don’t believe them. Tell yourself : “ I have a beautiful smile”; “I have great hair”; “I am a likable person” In the beginning this will seem ridiculous, because it seems so far from the truth. But as you repeat these positive affirmations in your mind you will slowly start to believe them. 

(If you’re someone who suffers from bad body image often, it’s helpful to write a list about the things you like about yourself on one of your “good days”. That way when there is absolutely nothing positive you can think about you can refer back to this list and remember that the way you are feeling about yourself at the moment is a feeling, not a fact.)

• Pamper yourself. My favorite “quick fix” is a long hot shower – but there are plenty of other things you can do if you have the time. Paint you nails, take a luxurious bath with scented soap, do a facial. If you want to take this a step further you can actually go out and get your hair done, or get a massage. Don’t be afraid to spend some extra time taking care of yourself- you deserve it!
• Be sociable. Locking yourself up in your own little world will only re-enforce in your mind how awful and unwanted you are. Being around friends and family helps bring you back to reality – it can make you realize that you truly are wanted and desirable, someone others enjoy spending time with.
• Help someone else. Reach out to those around you and find ways to help them. There is an undeniable sense of satisfactions that comes from doing something entirely selfless to help someone else.
• Distract yourself. When all else fails do something distracting. It can be something you enjoy, or something you have to do. Regardless of what the activity is it’ll help take your mind off yourself and get it onto something else. And there is something to be said for the feeling you get at the end of a productive day.

Hope you guys find these tips helpful if you ever find yourself battling the body image blues. Because you are all beautiful, unique special individuals that ought to be proud of who they are! What are your favorite tips for boosting self-esteem?