Love every bit of you

You are fabulous, but don’t just take our word for it! Your self-esteem has to do with how you feel about yourself as a person. It’s about the confidence you have in yourself and in what you are able to do. When you look in the mirror, what do you see? What do you feel? This is your self-esteem.

If you have good self-esteem:

• You have confidence to make healthy choices now and throughout your life.
• You believe in yourself even when things are rough.
• You find it easier to recover from mistakes or disappointments that happen.
• You have courage to try new things.
• You have good relationships with the people in your life.

Self-Esteem: Work in Progress

It’s normal for everyone to struggle with their self-esteem sometimes. We’ve all felt down on ourselves a time or two. Having low self-esteem can lead us to feel sad, depressed, or alone.

We are our own worst critic and you can start to feel better about yourself. Here are a few tips for improving your self-esteem and having a positive attitude:

1. Remember, you are not your situation. Don’t judge yourself based on your situation or location. You are a valuable, beautiful and strong person no matter what challenges you face in your life.
2. Focus on all the good things you do. Spend time thinking about what makes you special.
3. Participate in different activities. This is a good way to meet new people and try new things. Pushing yourself to try something new can help build your confidence.
4. Set and reach new goals. Having something to look forward to can give you a sense of pride. It can help you work through different challenges in your life.
5. Be a role model to others. It can feel good to offer support and share advice with others. Talk about how you overcame challenges in your own life.
6. Get physically active. This can be a great way to stay healthy. Being fit can add to a positive body image.

Positive Body Image

Beautiful and healthy bodies come in all shapes and sizes. Always focusing on what you think is “wrong” will bring you down and won’t change anything. Instead, celebrate yourself each day by doing things that take care of your body like getting exercise and eating right.

You already are a strong and beautiful woman. You don’t always need to change you how look on the outside to feel good about yourself. Try changing the way you think about your body.

 Tips for a positive body image:

• Focus on your strength. Don’t focus on your size or what you don’t like about your body. Instead, think about how strong and healthy your body is. Do things to support your strength.
• Accept what you can’t change. Everyone has parts of their bodies that they can’t change. It’s something you have to accept. Real people aren’t perfect. That’s what makes them special and interesting.
• Take control of what you can. Focus on the parts of you that you can make stronger and healthier. Make a plan on how you can reach your goals.
• Stay positive. Stop yourself from making negative comments. Remind yourself that your worth as a person is not based on how you look. Perhaps you’re a good cook, a singer, a loyal friend, smart, or creative. Try giving yourself three compliments each day. By focusing on the positive, you can change how you feel about yourself.

Local Resources:

Counseling Services

• MiSide offers various avenues of counseling for your whole family.
• Covenant Community Care offers services to help you address struggles with depression, anxiety, and stress. They have locations in Southwest Detroit.
• Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network offers a wide variety of resources to seek out counseling in your area.
• Central City Health is an organization in Midtown that will offer counseling, housing, and outreach services, as well as life skills and life management training.
• CNS Healthcare offers group and family therapy, crisis intervention, and other support services.

Support and Empowerment Groups

• Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit Flip the Script Women’s programming: self-empowerment and spiritual healing for women to become a “ready to work” employee
• SASHA Center, Sexual Assault Services for Holistic Healing and Awareness:  this center offers support groups and different ways to express and heal from acts of sexual assault and violence
• L.I.F.T. Women’s Resource Center: works to provide women with essential resources to give strength and courage to them to be leaders in their home and community through support groups and life skills