Learning to Love Myself by Keeping it Real

I’ve spent a lot of time researching self-love and self-compassion recently, as you will know if you follow my Instagram!

Learning to love yourself is a huge step in building and maintaining good mental health. I tend to think of negatives, overthink and catastrophise which can increase depression and anxiety, so positive thinking can reduce this.

Across social media all I see are a range of filters, fake lighting and airbrushing which drives me crazy.

I don’t want my son growing up believing a fake normality where women always look flawless, and to judge them if they have spots, bloating or excess hair.

My social media is full of me talking openly about the ups and downs of parenting, relationships and mental health.

I don’t pretend to be an amazing, serene mother who cooks homemade food daily amongst a dust-free, tidy home. That is not and will never be me!

Instead I show my real feelings and even my real face. It’s rare I wear make-up in life, so it’s rare you see me with it on social media.

Using these platforms is helping me to learn ways to love myself. I recently took part in 31 Days of Self Love, and I’m now completing 30 Days of Gratitude to train my mind to notice the positives. I even post every Saturday about parts of my body and personality that I’m learning to love and respect!

#WeLoveReal

The clever people at We Love Dates have a great message about the importance of being comfortable in your own skin. They’ve come up with #welovereal and I’m loving seeing people showing the real them using this hashtag, so I’m joining in.

I remember the many times I’ve used free dating sites and how often I came across men who would pretend to be something they weren’t to get dates. Some used fake or old photos, some pretended to have high flying jobs and some pretended they were single!

For some I wonder if they disliked themselves so much that they would hide behind a fake social profile to feel better. But surely this doesn’t work in the long term if you want to meet someone right?

It wasn’t all bad though as there were many on there, like me, who just showed the real us in order to attract people that best match. I met my fiancé through online dating and we were both open about our pasts and our currently lives from day dot.

The most attractive thing in a person is self confidence- so loving who you are makes you more attractive straight away.

Self-Love Products

As part of their campaign, welovedates.com sent me some gorgeous products from Typo which encourage self love. The ‘Working On Me For Me’ journal is full of positive, motivational messages and gives you space to reflect. It has sections for looking at what’s not been good and how you can improve it, as well as space to list daily positives.

The Sparkle Bellini scented candle is lovely to smell whilst using the journal, drinks bottle and motivational pens. Altogether they create the perfect atmosphere to sit and journal.

I’m going to share things I’ve learnt about self-love and compassion soon, so if you have any tips, please share below!

In the meantime, check out the #welovereal campaign and why don’t you join in? Feel free to tag me in on Instagram (@singleparentpessimist) as it’s a great reminder and motivator for me too.

Keep it real 😉

This is a sponsored post with gifted products.