{"id":56352,"date":"2018-04-25T19:17:56","date_gmt":"2018-04-26T03:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=56352"},"modified":"2018-04-27T19:25:15","modified_gmt":"2018-04-28T03:25:15","slug":"mirror-mirror-to-improve-your-confidence-change-how-you-see-yourself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/mirror-mirror-to-improve-your-confidence-change-how-you-see-yourself\/","title":{"rendered":"Mirror, Mirror: To Improve Your Confidence, Change How You See Yourself"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In mid-2016, Dove<\/em> <\/span>published<\/a> their third Global Beauty<\/em> and<\/em> Confidence Report, after interviewing <\/em>10,500 females across 13 countries. The results were rather worrying. They found that only 4{54c12dad2cc2b53ae830e39915b1a3e70288dbcbbeb8bbf8395437c5dc3c512c} of women around the world considered themselves beautiful, but 72{54c12dad2cc2b53ae830e39915b1a3e70288dbcbbeb8bbf8395437c5dc3c512c} felt pressure to look a certain way. 9 out of 10 girls wished they could change at least one aspect of their physical appearances.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even more bothering is the fact that nearly all women (85{54c12dad2cc2b53ae830e39915b1a3e70288dbcbbeb8bbf8395437c5dc3c512c}) and girls (79{54c12dad2cc2b53ae830e39915b1a3e70288dbcbbeb8bbf8395437c5dc3c512c}) state that they opt out of important life activities – such as trying out for a team or club, and engaging with family or loved ones \u2013 because of low body esteem. They simply don’t feel good about themselves and the way they look.<\/span><\/p>\n

Glamour magazine<\/em> did a similar survey in 2014\u201454{54c12dad2cc2b53ae830e39915b1a3e70288dbcbbeb8bbf8395437c5dc3c512c} of women ages 18 to 40 were unhappy with their bodies, they reported, and 80{54c12dad2cc2b53ae830e39915b1a3e70288dbcbbeb8bbf8395437c5dc3c512c} of them said that just looking in the mirror made them feel bad.<\/span><\/p>\n

These statistics are definitely sad\u2014not only because so many of us fall victims to the \u201cstandards\u201d of beauty that society tries to force on us, but also because we allow the perceptions of our appearances to dictate our sense of self-worth.<\/span><\/p>\n

The way we see ourselves\u2014generally known as \u201cself-image\u201d\u2014is not a new kid on the block for psychologists. It\u2019s been extensively analysed, namely because of its infamous links to self-esteem and mental well-being. But these self-opinions have proven challenging to capture under a common denominator\u2014 because they are very subjective, highly prone to biases, and form based on our personal situational, environmental and even cultural histories.<\/span><\/p>\n

Negative self-image, unfortunately, is not something we can hope to completely outgrow with age. And we can\u2019t ignore it either\u2014it\u2019s an essential part of our characters\u2014in fact, it defines who we believe we are.<\/i><\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It matters yet for another reason\u2014it\u2019s a barometer of how much we like or dislike ourselves, or simply put\u2014it\u2019s a measure of our self-esteem.<\/span><\/p>\n

Luckily, there is a silver lining here. Unfavourable self-views, although quite resistant to change, are not undefeatable.<\/strong> There is plenty we can do to improve our relationship with ourselves, so that we can become our most favourite person in the whole world again.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is how we can start.<\/span><\/p>\n