Why having children that look like me has been a massive wake up call for my self talk and what it can mean for you.
Yesterday when we were out in town someone said to my daughter ‘gosh, you’re the image of your mum’.
We get that a lot!
A few minutes later my little girl said to me, ‘For some reason I really like it when people say I look like you.’
I smiled to myself. Because every day I make an effort to be sure my kids see me loving myself, my body, my face, my character. And maybe, just maybe, she’s noticing.
Maybe she’s learning that her face is worthy of loving just like I show her mine is.
Now imagine if every time I looked in the mirror I criticised myself. Talked about how overweight I am. Or how I can never get away with that outfit. Imagine if I criticised my skin, or my eyes, or my chin or my nose. Imagine if I belittled my character and my actions.
What would this little person that looks up to me be learning? What would my daughter who is ‘the image of me’ be learning? What would anyone watching on be learning? Would she still like it when people say she looks like me?
Some days it’s hard to love ourselves for us, but on those days, love yourself for the people who might learn something from seeing you love yourself. Who might learn that it’s ok to love themselves too.
And here's the really great thing. The thing about openly loving ourselves (even if some days we don't really mean it!), is that it’s a classic case of ‘fake it til you make it’. The more you do this openly, the more you rewrite that dialogue in your head and then the magic happens... you begin to truly believe it.