How to Become More Comfortable in Your Own Skin

Everyone has days where they feel insecure in their own skin, battling with their flaws and imperfections. There will always be days where you battle with your self-esteem, no matter how confident you are – and that’s okay. Everyone deserves to feel good in the skin they’re in.

A lot of people will give advice and say…

“Just love yourself and love your body.”

But if it was REALLY that easy, then we’d all be fully embracing our bodies at any size and not spending BILLIONS on diet and beauty products.

Maybe it’s time to just try to be okay with yourself. The society we live in makes us all feel pressure to succeed and be the best of the best. But in reality, just being okay is OKAY. In fact, the best thing you can do for yourself is…

FIRST, focus on accepting yourself

THEN, jump into being more confident and loving yourself.

Self-acceptance must come before self-love.

Taking charge of your own thoughts, especially your feelings about yourself, is one of the hardest things to do when you don’t feel confident.

Even though it can be hard to truly embrace yourself and feel comfortable in your own skin, there’s a way to overcome your negative thoughts and learn to accept yourself for who you truly are.

“The moment will arrive when you are comfortable with who you are, and what you are – bald or old or fat or poor, successful or struggling – when you don’t feel the need to apologise for anything or to deny anything. To be comfortable in your own skin is the beginning of strength.” 

–  Charles B. Handy

Here are some helpful tips you can use to help you feel more comfortable in your own skin:

1. Stop Seeking Validation from Other People

The love you can give yourself is the most important kind!

Stop valuing the opinions of others more than your own. Seeking validation from other people is a dangerous spiral. You never seem to have enough, whether you’re hoping for hundreds of likes on Instagram or a simple pat on the back from your parents.

Seeking validation from others can give quick boost of confidence. However, this feeling isn’t lasting. It’s totally fine to look for other’s approval on occasion. But there comes a point where it become a habit.

To obtain truly lasting self-worth, you need to take an important step back and recognise that you do not need someone else’s approval to feel good about yourself.

2. Accept Your Weaknesses

Let’s be honest with ourselves, there are many things in life that we aren’t good at doing…

…And that’s okay!

One of the beauties of life is that nobody is perfect. To truly be comfortable in your own skin, you need to be self-aware. You can’t turn a weakness into a strength if you’re too busy denying the weakness exists. Here’s an exercise for you:

“I am terrible at…. (State your weakness) …and I’m okay with that.”

You don’t need to be perfect to feel self-love.

3. Prioritise Yourself

Taking care of yourself is vital when it comes to feeling more comfortable in your body. When you prioritise yourself and your own needs, you become more in-tune with them and who you are.

You can prioritise yourself in a number of ways including:

Learning to say “no”
Prioritising “me” time
Saying what’s on your mind.

Those who don’t take the proper time for themselves are often harder on themselves in all regards.

4. Practice Healthy Social Media Habits

This involves trying not to compare yourself to everyone else. This can be difficult but there is a way to help: ensure your feed is filled with diverse individuals. There are many influencers out there showing the “real” side of social media. Including lumps, bumps, body hair etc.

There’s nothing wrong with following fitness models, but if you find yourself comparing your body to theirs, maybe it’s time to focus on other things. The accounts you follow should inspire you, not make you feel any less about yourself.

Get the best out of social media instead of the worst!

Read Now: Doomscrolling: Navigating Mental Health and Social Media

5. Celebrate Every Milestone

Every year we have spent living with our friends and family is truly a gift. We deserve to celebrate every birthday, every anniversary, every job promotion.

When you celebrate a milestone, it is a genuine reason to provide yourself with appreciation and recognition – two things that will motivate people at every point in their life.

Learn to celebrate your story. Every person’s story is unique. Some stories have more highlights, others more lowlights. And that’s okay. Anything you have achieved, big or small, should be celebrated.

6. Live Unapologetically

There’s a weird sense of freedom you feel from living unapologetically. Don’t apologise for who you are and how you feel. Don’t hold back your authentic self and don’t be afraid to tell others how you truly feel. Hiding your emotions won’t benefit anyone.

Here are some ways to live unapologetically:

Be your authentic self
Use your voice
Don’t ask for permission
Never be afraid to say no.

7. Create a Life You Love Living

It’s an unfortunate truth that many of us don’t feel like we’re living a life we love. However, to make the most of your life, you have to create a life YOU love.

Creating a life you love is really about aligning your life with your own core values. Those are the things that are most important to you personally. To do so you must defeat those self-imposed limits you have on yourself.

Nothing worthwhile is ever really easy. But good things are worth the effort. We owe it to ourselves to step past our self-limiting beliefs and take those steps to build the lives we love and be comfortable in our own skin.

For further advice from our professional life coaches, contact us at Ceed today! 