Do You Like the Person You See When You Look In The Mirror?

People talk about having good days, bad days, ups, and downs. Life is always changing and with change comes expected adaption. I have experienced immense change in my life, as I am sure many have, and came to realize the importance of a strong foundation. In a time of hardship when life ends up moving in a unexpected direction I have struggled. I questioned why it was so hard to stay positive when things weren’t working out as I had expected.  

I can pinpoint a time in my past where I experienced a loss of confidence as a result of a situation. I had a person I cared about end our relationship and my automatic response was to blame myself. I immediately looked to my perceived flaws and focused on what I had done wrong. I disregarded the fact that there was another person in the relationship and fully took the blame. I was hard on myself.  I learned that I would let a painful situation dictate what I thought about myself. I couldn’t separate who I was as a person from the negative outcome of the relationship. To grow from this experience I felt that I needed to get back to basics and focus on my relationship with myself.   

A strong foundation and sense of self are extremely important in maintaining a healthy and balanced life. I asked myself what the building blocks of a strong foundation could be. I believe a strong foundation is comprised of a person’s values, beliefs, esteem, sense of security and health. In reflecting on my past experience I recognized that self esteem was a weak area in my foundtaion. The definition of self-esteem is the way a person feels about themselves. Self-esteem is conducive to a person’s happiness, their ability to handle life and how they look at the world.

Self- esteem is directly related to how a person perceives themself. The way you feel about who you are is apparent in the choices you make, the things you say, and your behaviours. Dr. Phil alludes to specific internal factors that shape the way you view yourself. These factors include internal dialogue, labeling, tapes, and fixed/limiting beliefs. These internal factors are all reactions to the world around you. Reacting to the world in a positive and self- affirming way will lead you to have a successful and happy life.

Building a strong foundation based on a postive veiw of yourself is a journey. I believe that taking care of youself, having fun, being responsibile, and building a positve relationship with yourself and others will lead to a happy and fruitful life.