I never fully liked living in my shell. I was haunted by anxiety and constant overthinking. I’ve been waging a war against my body, comparing myself to strangers and simply not feeling like I was good enough. Where do you go when you don’t feel at home in your body and mind?
I went through cycles of accepting and disliking myself. I struggled with body image issues, eating disorder and emotional eating. Scrolling through social media lead to constantly comparing myself to strangers that caused me to question my accomplishments, appearance, and even personality traits. I often tried to understand what it is that holds me back from fully loving and accepting myself?
I realized that it takes courage to be vulnerable and since most of my life I felt like I needed to be tough, I never asked for help. Being at peace with who I am has been a long, long journey. The biggest thing that helped me, was to get to know myself. I started to sit with myself and ask myself “How do I feel? Why do I feel this way?”. Keeping a journal really helped me to track my emotions. Practicing self-care and putting myself above everything and everyone else. And by no means have I fully overcome all my insecurities but I learned to live with them. Loving myself is a skill that I had to learn and it is probably the most valuable skill I’ve ever attained 💛
This article is written by Giuli Gartner
