Sometimes we just don’t feel great about ourselves, and for some of us that ‘sometimes’ is really more like all the time. Especially as moms, I feel like as a whole, we are often our own worst critics. Those times when you are feeling especially ‘off’ or down, it may be time to compliment your mirror. Today is Compliment Your Mirror Day–a way to give yourself some much deserving self-love, and then continue it day after day!
How to celebrate Compliment Your Mirror Day:
Find the closest mirror, take a good look at it, and compliment the person that you see.
I know, I know. It sounds cliche, and almost like some trust exercise that a pushy Instagram influencer is saying will ‘change your life’ blah, blah blah. But for a second, play along with me, and imagine what our confidence would be like if we raised ourselves up as much as we did our best friends, our daughters, or even drunk girls crying in bar bathrooms. Demi Lovato said it best when she sang,
“I’m a black belt when I’m beating up on myself but I’m an expert at giving love to somebody else”
That rang true for me. We all have things shredding our self-esteem. It might be the media deciding that our postpartum bodies don’t fit their standards, or it’s Karen down the street whose eyes never seem to have the same bags as mine after we both had sleepless nights with our newborns. But if we redirected just a smidge of our energy back into ourselves, we might actually start to feel good about ourselves. We just might start to like the person we see.
So start small.
Grab a pen and some sticky notes. Look in your mirror and write one thing down you like about the person you see, and stick that to your mirror. Dig deep if you have to, or go with the first simple thought that crosses your mind. It doesn’t have to be business-meeting-professional, but it might be hard to let your guard down and give yourself that first compliment. But once you write that down, and give yourself a visual to look at, you begin to establish your self-worth.
Turn your focus away from just physical beauty.
It doesn’t have to be about your outer appearance. Find the love for your beautiful mind, the strength that gets you through teething-sleepless nights, or the mere motivation that got you through work today, and three loads of laundry tonight. Find the love for the simplicity of things that make up who you are, and hold onto those things.
Compliment you.
You have strengths and amazing attributes. Today is your chance to invest in yourself and discover what those are, and then solidify them by saying them out loud while facing yourself in the mirror. You might feel empowered saying it out loud, or you might feel a little silly. If the worst thing that comes from trying to Compliment Your Mirror is giving yourself a good laugh, then I still consider it a win. Laughing is infectious and doubles as a mood-booster!
Put a little love back into yourself today. Kathryn Stockett once said, “You is kind. You is smart. You is important.” Remember that today and every day.
Compliment your mirror, girl!
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