confidence.

Let's start this year off like this, yup with confidence because why not?

Throughout my 2 in a half-decade on this earth, I've learned that confidence has nothing with beauty. You can be in a wheelchair and still exude confidence and look more attractive than someone standing on their own 2 feet. Confidence has everything to do with the way you carry yourself and see life in general, if you walk around all sad with your head down don't be surprised if no one talks to you and I am saying this from experience. When I am going through a depressive episode and I let my emotions dictate how I interact with other people, I don't initiate conversation and I can walk into a room and nobody noticed that I am there why?  because I don't look like I want to be there and I have so much negativity around my energy that no one really wants to talk to me. But if I didn't let my emotion shows this could have been a whole different experience. How can you look more confident and inviting?

1. Even if you're sad, going through a break up you can still fake a smile. I know the first time you start smiling it won't be genuine but that's okay at least you're trying to be positive and you're doing your best to interact with people even if that's the last thing you want to do. When you fake a smile believe me that soon enough you will find a reason to smile! Because when you give someone who knows you a fake smile they can tell you " why you're smiling like that where's my beautiful smile?" and soon enough you're smiling from ear to ear :) doesn't mean that the problem went away but at least you look more positive and people will want to be around you the more positive you are and hey maybe one of those people has a solution to your problem.

2. when you walk into a room with your head down, you deny yourself of your power. Yes, when you walk into a room with your head held up high and your shoulders back with an inviting smile on your face, immediately you look 10 times more attractive... it doesn't matter who was already in the room your confidence just makes a difference and don't be surprised if everyone is looking at you.

I know that it is easier said than done and that's okay if in the beginning you don't feel confident enough to walk into a room like you own it but practice makes perfect and I am still learning. When I was 50 pounds heavier than I have ever been my whole life I was not that confident, well that was last year and I would find myself declining invitation to go out because I didn't feel beautiful... but now when I look back at those pictures I took I say to myself "if only you knew" I didn't look as bad as I thought and all I needed was a bit of confidence. 

3 keys to confidence.

1. the first thing you need to do is to love yourself the way you are. No matter if you are short or tall well let me tell you something I am not that tall I am actually 5'3 and some days I can look just over 5 feet but let me dress up with high heels on and step out looking like I am over 6 feet tall...yes high heels do give me confidence but I still need to love myself when I am not wearing heels with just my sneakers on or bare feet even because those are the times I am fully myself.  There are people shorter than me who are probably just over 4 feet and they are so powerful! so now, what's my excuse? short or tall it all comes down to your demeanor. If you are on a weight loss journey, don't forget to love yourself the way you currently look like yes enjoy the weight loss journey and still take pictures.

2. accept what you cannot change. All of us have something we hate about our body and unless we get surgery it will always remain like that and sometimes you can't even get surgeries for it. Instead of wishing you look any different start accepting your flaws and most of the time the things you hate about your body are something someone else wishes they had. So embrace all your flaws and quirks because when you do that no one else can make you feel bad about it.

3. Never compare yourself to someone else. That is one of the reasons why I left Instagram, I started to feel like I was comparing the way I look with other people and I was like 19, or 20 years old at the time and I didn't think that my body would change as I get older. Let me tell you something your body can change at any given time and your beauty standard can change as well so instead of comparing what you look like to those Instagram models or anyone else just focus on yourself and only compete with your old self. Remember there is always room to grow and those models never really look like their pictures so focus on yourself and try to be better than who you were before.