Never speak badly about yourself.
As I was working out, I noticed my inner voice criticizing my aging body, its flaws, and those things it can and can’t do relative to other people.
It’s not an uncommon conversation.
While we were exercising, the person I was working out with described her wedding dress and showed me photos. She is getting married this weekend.
She shared her own criticisms of her body relative to her dress. The moment was not lost on me.
We quickly reframed our conversation into appreciation of our bodies and how special her day would be as she radiated beauty.
We both recognized that we looked back at photos of ourselves with appreciation, not criticism. As we both observed our younger selves, we felt like we looked pretty good “back then” (whenever that was). We also recalled having been just as critical of ourselves then as now.
Food for thought. The mirror didn’t change, but our perception did.