YOUR IMAGE MATTERS 🖱

LOOK IN THE MIRROR!

What do you see? Your hair, eyes, nose, lips, ears, body.

For majority of us when we look in the mirror that’s all we tend to focus on and it makes sense because that’s the first thing we see. However, have you ever looked in the mirror and stared at yourself intensely? Have you ever questioned what sort of person you are? How people around you see and perceive you and what you may need to work on to become a better person?

For most of us probably not… either we do this once in a while or we’ve never done it at all. Now you don’t have to literally stare in a mirror to self-evaluate but it definitely helps in bringing everything to life.

As you grow older there are certain traits you shouldn’t be willing to accept in a friendship and this all comes with respecting yourself. Once you notice that a ‘friend’ of yours doesn’t value or respect you in the same way you do for them either address it or see yourself out.

Now I used to not believe in addressing issues in a friendship because I was extremely passive aggressive in the past and didn’t know how to confront my feelings amongst other people. However, now I would advise anyone to speak about how they feel with a friend who is making them feel under-valued and if the same behaviour continues then you have every right to cut it off in my opinion.

Never suppress your feelings because of the amount of time you’ve known somebody, or the challenges you have faced together. If someone is not consistently respecting you no matter who they are to you, it is important that you protect yourself from that negative energy.

Let me get back to self image because that is the main purpose of this post.

Find time this week and go through this checklist with yourself to make sure you are not being the friend you don’t want to other people.

Use your eyes

Of course we all have our own personal battles and it isn’t always easy to keep track of what is going on with everyone around you. However, don’t act oblivious if you do see something. If you can clearly see that your friend is going through a difficult time or needs help and you have the ability to help, do so. So many times people complain about their friends not being there for them and honestly it’s because sometimes we are so caught up in our own world we don’t acknowledge our close ones.

Open your ears

Sometimes your friend may be sharing important information with you and because you are not paying attention you fail to realise that they may be going through a rough time. Listen to your friends and make time to do so. Part of loving someone is listening to them, embracing their conversation, their thoughts, ideas etc. Listening is a key skill in any relationship and in my opinion it shows that you respect the person you are dealing with.

Use your memory

We live in a world now where you really don’t have much excuse to be forgetting important occasions when it comes to your friends. If you don’t have the ability to retain important information about your friends such as birthdays, anniversaries, events, businesses. Write these down on your phone or if you use a diary then make the most of this. Nothing hurts more when someone close to you forgets something which is important to you and doesn’t seem to show any care or remorse.

Open your mouth

LACK of communication is one of the biggest friendship killers and it’s such a shame. If you have arranged to meet a friend or do a friend a favour and you can’t anymore, PLEASE inform them. If you have put yourself forward for an activity with a friend and they have to chase you to get an answer and you do not have the common courtesy to inform your friend, in my opinion you really need to take a look at yourself. Not only does this show a lack of respect and self-awareness but it also shows disorganisation. Being labelled as an unreliable person is something which is very difficult to get rid of and once people see you in this light you may find yourself less involved with people.

Use your senses

Something may not be sensitive to you and may not mean much but to your friend it could mean everything. Understand that we all process our emotions differently, therefore speaking to your friend harshly during a down-time wouldn’t be the ideal thing to do, but if you do see your friend going down a negative path or notice behaviour which is unusual, as a friend I believe it is your duty to make this known rather than ignoring the issue. Acknowledgement of your friends behavioural patterns shows your love and concern.

Finally, use your body!

Make time to see your friends. Now we all have friendships at different levels and there are some friends you may not see as frequently as others but there should always be an awareness when it has been a long time. Make the journey to go and check in on your friends, if you can offer to take them for dinner or do an activity or even nicer, invite them over and make a nice meal and watch a movie. Don’t always wait for the other person to make the effort. YOU message or call first. It shouldn’t be a competition but as I mentioned it should be balanced.

Friendship date nights are important and are key to developing a bond.

Hopefully, you have seen what I have done in this post, I have used all the physical parts of our bodies and used them as a tool for internal self-evaluation. I hope I have successfully expressed the reasons why your self image is important and that after reading this you will begin to take this on board.

The way others see you is key to your progression in life and this is why it should be taken seriously.

Love Boohema

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