By Whitney Ullman
Posted Aug. 25, 2010
Self-esteem is a personal issue and, unfortunately, for the majority of us it can have a negative impact on our lives.
It usually starts in our younger years as our bodies are changing, and then as we grow up we start to learn more about life and become increasingly self aware of our image both mentally and physically. During that time period it is crucial that we hear constructive comments to help build our confidence, develop a healthy diet and maintain a positive outlook on life. Otherwise, we could start to doubt ourselves more, conform to peer pressure easily, and be unhealthy.
We know that negativity can’t be avoided, but having someone in your life who is constantly building you up no matter what — and with sincerity — is key to having great self-esteem. If this can be built during our formative years then the chances of us feeling great, becoming successful and having high self confidence and esteem are much greater.
I am always so thankful to my mom who proudly announces that even when I was a baby she would say to me, “You will be good at math and science,” and throughout the years she would constantly be throwing little nuggets of confidence my way. Although life threw her quite a few curve balls and we grew up not having much, she knew the importance of maintaining positive reinforcement, and I truly believe that helped to shape the person I am today.
For those of you who don’t have that positive person, or know someone who needs positive reinforcement badly, then you can take it upon yourself to pick up or give the gift of a really neat phone application that just hit the market called Beauty Mirror for Girls (beautymirrorapp.com). Last month at the national E-women Network conference I linked up with a dynamic young woman named Isabel Rasmussen who founded this fabulous, unique idea along with her business partner Laura Wood.
According to Rasmussen, Beauty Mirror originally came from her frustration of seeing beauty as a competition with one winner. She would sometimes feel her self-confidence deflate when another powerful, pretty, smart, popular girl would walk into a room or come on the television. She asked herself, “How do we as women stay confident and remember everything that makes us beautiful?” Even on days when we don’t wear makeup, or when we feel unappreciated at work, we shouldn’t forget that we are worth loving, worth paying attention to and worth investing in. The concept is to capture both youthfulness and play along with the importance of teaching girls to value all parts of themselves.
Originally this was made for tweens, but now there are two different versions, with one to include adults. A great feature of Beauty Mirror is that you can create one for a friend and e-mail it to them. Rasmussen says that women are much more comfortable with telling someone else how great they are versus saying something positive about themselves.
As for advice Rasmussen would give to girls with low self-esteem, she says that this September is the kick-off to a new beauty message challenge called “Tell yourself I am beautiful every day for 10 days.” There is a statistic that only two percent of women describe themselves as beautiful, so she is challenging the other 98 percent of women to tell themselves they are beautiful three times a day for 10 days. You create a list of all the things that make you beautiful so that you can review it daily, or you can just write down “I am beautiful” on paper and look at it daily. Rasmussen also knows that sometimes it can be hard to stay focused, so she recommends having an accountability partner because forming a new habit is easier when you do it with someone else. The challenge is designed easy enough so anyone can do it. There is even a video on the Web site with great tips.
You can also read the daily beauty-message blog at: beautymessageblog.com.
Remember that no matter what happens in life, always remind yourself that you are beautiful!
Dishing out advice on various topics to our readers on issues related to networking, dating, employment, news, events, shopping and much more. She is the current president of the Greater Atlantic City Jaycees and owner of www.GoToWhitney.com.
From atlanticcityweekly.com published on August 25, 2010
