Category: Self Care

Self care is a loaded term and means different things to different people. I’m going to be honest, I used to kind of abuse the term self care, and use it as an excuse to “treat myself.” I’ve found there’s a healthier way to treat myself, in addition to my self care’s strong connection to loving my body. It doesn’t mean if I practice self care, I’m loving my body and everything’s perfect. It means when I practice self care, I’m doing positive things for myself and my body and ultimately continuing to build a strong relationship with myself and my body.

Here’s how I see it; we take care of our bodies by practicing self care, which ultimately helps us work toward loving our bodies. So, self care should be a practice of doing positive things that make our bodies feel good, right? Here are my favorite ways to practice it (aside from the easy ones; working out and hanging out with friends/family!):

• Bubble baths. Okay, if you follow me on Instagram, you know I love my bubble baths. They are so soothing and relaxing, and I love taking 30 minutes to an hour to myself to just decompress. If you don’t take them, you should think about it! We’re all always in a rush to take a shower or move on to the next thing, but baths allow me to slow down and really unwind. They are one of my FAVORITE self care practices.
• Doing cleansing face masks. I love grabbing face masks whenever I’m at a convenient store, because every once in a while they are nice to unwind at the end of a long day with. They truly deep clean my face and skin, and leave me feeling super refreshed and relaxed.
• Nights in to myself. Taking a night in to myself to relax is a huge way I can really connect to myself and my body. Sometimes it’s with a glass of wine, my favorite meal, or even no alcohol at all. It’s whatever my body needs at the time, but it’s important time that I cherish as part of my self care routine.
• Getting massages. If you know me, you know I love getting back or full body massages. I just love them! And with all the exercise and movement I’m getting in, I find them so important to working out the kinks (literally). Massages can be expensive I know, but I’m always looking for deals – either at local massage places, on Groupon, etc. And these don’t have to be super regular, but getting one every once in a while is a nice way to treat yourself and your body!
• Taking my makeup off and washing my face. At the end of every day, it’s so important to me to take my makeup off and wash my face. Not going to lie, there are days where it gets skipped, but it is such a priority in my self care regimen. Cleansing my skin and keeping it clean is a huge part of keeping myself feeling good, so it’s a small, yet important thing to me.

Did you like this list, and are you more mindful of how self care impacts your body love? Tell me how you like to practice self care in the comments!

Coming from someone who’s struggled with body image my entire life, I have SO many thoughts on the skinny compliment. “You look so skinny” – we’ve all heard it, said it, or maybe even received it – but in my opinion, it can actually be a terrible compliment. Here’s why.

First of all, I think the skinny compliment instinctively makes us all think we SHOULD be skinny. It feels like people say it as if it’s some great thing, when it probably isn’t the best thing to promote. What about using the words “healthy” or “strong” or “great”?

But when you’re told it, doesn’t it just seem like the best thing ever? Like you never want it to end? That’s because it feels good to feel like you look like you should, or look how other “skinny” people do, or feel like your hard work is paying off. But I don’t think that’s necessarily healthy.

I think it’s great to encourage other people and share compliments – I love that – but I do think we all should consider how we’re complimenting people and what we’re promoting. I’d rather be seen as healthy, strong, etc. than skinny, and I think sharing those types of compliments is something we should all get into a better habit of.

Also, side note, no matter what anyone says – you are amazing just the way you are.

Ah, self-love. Something that the hustle and bustle of our lives – a busy schedule, crazy work week, or stressful situations in our personal lives – can quickly try to ignore or diminish. Well I’m here as your little reminder to take a moment, reflect on how your week (or life) is going, and give yourself some much needed – and deserved – love.

I’ll get to the ways of how to do that, but I also want to explain why it’s so important to us all. Did you know that self-acceptance could be the key to a happier life? One study says just that, but also that it’s the happy habit that people practice the least. It has SO many benefits – like giving you motivation to reach your health goals, helping with mental health issues, to name just a few of them.

In the craziness of life, we’ve all just got to find time for ourselves – both physically and mentally. Here are some of my favorite ways you can show yourself some love, starting now:

• Make a morning mantra. What’s something you can say to yourself every morning that will create a positive mindset for your day? Think about something you want to reinforce to yourself – that you’re beautiful? That you’re worthy? That you’re enough? Whatever you choose, work on repeating it to yourself, either in the morning, or a time in the day that feels right to have that little reminder. Positive self-talk is so huge and is truly important in treating ourselves right, so the more you practice it, the better.
• Make a list of everything you like about yourself. This may sound insane to you, but really think about it – what do you love about yourself? It can be physical attributes, qualities about yourself, whatever you want – write it down. Reference the list when you’re having a tough time, or make a point to repeat these things out loud to yourself whenever you need to. This list is only going to help you continue to realize and appreciate the amazing things you see in yourself. I’ll admit, I did this a while ago but haven’t reflected on these things in a while – time to revisit my list!
• Turn off your device for a while. We are constantly connected to our devices – whether it’s checking email, scrolling social media, or texting friends – but we all need and deserve a break sometimes. Give yourself an hour before bed to recharge and be away from the distractions, or turn your phone off while you’re relaxing on the couch tonight. Doing so is only giving you more time to reflect and live in the moment, and may also de-stress you a little without feeling like you are on and connected. We all deserve to give ourselves a break, and it can give you opportunities to do things other than scroll!
• Keep the right people around you. Self-love can be largely affected by who you’re surrounding yourself with and what you’re tolerating. If you have a friendship or relationship that isn’t serving you positively – whether they’re not treating you right or not making you feel good – get rid of it. The love you surround yourself with can only help build you up, and if you feel like something’s tearing you down, it’s time to reevaluate why you’re fighting so hard for it. It’s about time to realize you deserve better.

We’ve all had moments where self-love feels like the last thing on our list, but it’s SO important to make room for it in our daily lives. How do you practice self-love, or what tips did you find most helpful? Tell me in the comments, or email me at thecurveconfessions@gmail.com – I’d love to hear from you!

Think to yourself about the last time you said or thought something negative about yourself. While I’m hoping you can’t think of a recent example, you very well might have done this today, when you looked in the mirror and said, “Ew, my hair looks terrible today.” We’re all guilty of being overcritical at times, and that has a lot to do with our society’s views of perfection, social media, and other factors that all work to shape various insecurities in people.

It’s complicated, but the more aware we are of this negativity and how it affects our overall mental health, the better we can work to stop it (with both ourselves and others).

When initially starting to change what I thought and said aloud about my body, I soon realized positive self-talk goes much deeper than just appearance. Saying anything negative about yourself can really affect your overall confidence and self-esteem. So, when I say something that’s not necessarily about my body but still negative, like “I’m such an idiot,” it still negatively affects how I feel about myself in some way – especially when repeated. Instead, I’m trying to shift my mindset to, “I messed up this time, but I’ll get it next time” – or something like that.

Positive self-talk is something that I find so important in truly treating your mind, body, and soul right. Because if you’re not being nice to yourself, who the hell is going to be? Okay, probably multiple people. But still, the love you show yourself is so important.

So today and for the rest of the year, I want you to become more aware of the positivity you’re giving off – as well as those close to you – and work to move your mindset from negative to positive. Here are some quick ways to start doing this now:

1. When you wake up, say something nice to yourself. One of the first things you do in the morning might be heading to the bathroom to brush your teeth, where you’ll likely come across yourself in the mirror. How about starting your day off with a nice compliment? “You are beautiful” or “Today’s going to be a great day, you badass” are two ideas to start with, but really it can be anything positive.
2. Write down everything you say that’s negative, and then turn it into a positive. Next time you say or think something negative, document it. Then, turn it into something positive that changes your mindset and document that. If you catch yourself saying or thinking it again, correct yourself to say the positive thing instead. Repeat, repeat, repeat – our minds are powerful tools.
3. Think about if you would say those things to a friend. I wrote a post about a video of best friends saying negative things they’ve thought to themselves about their bodies, but aloud to each other, and it was heartbreaking. Next time you’re going hard on yourself (whether it’s aloud or in your thoughts), think about if you would say it to your best friend. Maybe that will knock some sense into you!
4. When you hear a friend say something bad about themselves, stop them. My friends know that if they make a comment about how they look or say something negative, I’m going to call them out, in hopes they think twice about saying it or eventually stop. You can always try to combat it with something positive, like a compliment that completely disputes their negativity.

We’ve all got work to do here, but the more actively we’re thinking about ways to cut out negative self-talk, the more positive our lives will be in the end. So, how are you going to change your mindset in 2018?