This morning, I stood in front of the mirror, and my eyes immediately went to my stomach. That one part of my body I’m not particularly happy with. Normally, it can really annoy me. My clothes don’t fit the way I want them to, I keep pulling and adjusting them, and before I know it, I’m irritated. But this time, something different happened. I looked up, saw my face, and suddenly thought: Damn, you look good! You’re beautiful! And I genuinely meant it. I even had to laugh at myself. Because why was I allowing one part of my body that I’m not entirely happy with to define my entire reflection? There is so much more to me than just my stomach, isn’t there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That moment got me thinking. Why are we so good at noticing everything we don’t like about ourselves? We look in the mirror and immediately see what could be tighter, slimmer, or different. Yet somehow, we seem to overlook the things we actually love about ourselves. And what strikes me even more is that we do exactly the same thing to other people. We see a woman walking down the street, and within seconds, we’ve already formed an opinion. Her stomach, her legs, her clothes, or simply the way she looks. As if we’re automatically searching for something that, in our eyes, isn’t quite right. But who gets to decide what beauty is? What you don’t find attractive might be absolutely beautiful to someone else. And perhaps that woman feels amazing in the very outfit you’re judging. So why should we think or say anything negative about it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Start with yourself. Focus on what you love about yourself instead of constantly searching for things you want to change. You don’t have to love every single part of yourself. I certainly don’t. But I refuse to let one insecurity outweigh all the things I’m proud of. And if we can learn to look at ourselves that way, why shouldn’t we do the same for others? Notice that beautiful smile, those gorgeous eyes, someone’s presence, or the confidence with which they walk down the street. And when you see something beautiful, say it! Give that compliment! Why are we sometimes quicker to criticize than to appreciate? Finding another woman beautiful doesn’t make you any less beautiful. Giving her a compliment takes absolutely nothing away from your own beauty. We don’t have to constantly compare ourselves, judge one another, or measure everyone against our own standards. Of course, you’re allowed to find certain things less attractive, but not every thought needs to become a judgment, and certainly not every judgment needs to be spoken out loud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’m glad I didn’t spend that morning obsessing over my stomach. I’m glad I looked beyond it and reminded myself that I actually look pretty damn good. Not because everything is perfect, but because perfection isn’t a requirement for feeling beautiful. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to change something about ourselves, but why should we put ourselves down in the meantime? And why should we focus on what we dislike about others when there’s so much beauty to discover?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So the next time you stand in front of the mirror, look beyond that one part of yourself you’re not happy with. And the next time you see another woman, try noticing something beautiful about her instead of looking for something to criticize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because ultimately, the way you look at others may reveal just as much about you as the way you look at yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beauty is everywhere. You just have to be willing to see it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Love<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jennifer<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This morning, I stood in front of the mirror, and my eyes immediately went to my stomach. That one part of my body I’m not particularly happy with. Normally, it can really annoy me. My clothes don’t fit the way I want them to, I keep pulling and adjusting them, and before I know it, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1170,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ongecategoriseerd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flexibleassistance.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flexibleassistance.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flexibleassistance.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flexibleassistance.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flexibleassistance.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1100"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.flexibleassistance.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1106,"href":"https:\/\/www.flexibleassistance.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1100\/revisions\/1106"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flexibleassistance.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flexibleassistance.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flexibleassistance.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flexibleassistance.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}