As I look in the mirror at the end of the day, my first thought is, “Did I really go all day looking like this?”
In today’s society, both men and women of all ages find themselves constantly criticizing what they see in the mirror.

Many people promote the message of loving others, but what about loving ourselves?

I often see articles posted online that focus on the rise in self-hatred and the spike in mental illnesses found in teenagers.
This self-hatred and dislike of one’s self is not something we are born with, but rather something that we learn as we grow up.

According to an article on Psychology Today, “Self-loathing is something that, as the song from ‘South Pacific’ says, ‘you have to be carefully taught.’ … What is self-loathing if not the coldest prejudice of all, the prejudice against the self?”

This sense of insecurity and being uncomfortable in one’s own skin is driven by three main things according to another article found on Psychology Today: insecurity based on recent failure or rejection, lack of confidence because of social anxiety, and insecurity driven by perfectionism.

In today’s society, we feel more and more of a need to not only be physically perfect, but to be perfect in almost every aspect of our lives.
This striving for perfectionism is unhealthy as we can begin to see ourselves as less than adequate.

These feelings of inadequacy are what lead to self-hatred: the idea that we must always be perfect, and if we fail, we don’t measure up.
This often then manifests in physical appearance and how we look in the mirror.

We can’t expect to always be the best version of ourselves, and we have to remind ourselves that we do not have to always win or always be perfect. As the saying goes, the last perfect person died on the cross.

In order to avoid these thoughts of imperfection and messages that we aren’t good enough in our minds, replace the negative thoughts when looking in the mirror with positive reinforcements and a smile at your refection.

Instead of looking at your reflection and thinking of all the things that went wrong with your day or picking your appearance apart, think of the positive things that happened. Instead, remind yourself of the affirmative attributes that you find within yourself.
We need to remind ourselves of the quote, “It’s okay not to be perfect.”

Taylor Bynion is the Copy Chief of The Patriot and jcpatiot.com.