5 WAYS TO LOVE YOURSELF, inside and out

As social media creates unrealistic expectations, coach Tiwalola Adebayo is here to help you find your inner strength

- Tiwalola Adebayo

Once look a certain way, be a certain weight, have ‘pilates arms’, use filters, full makeup... the list goes on. Today, especially now we live in a social-media-dominated age, it’s easy for us to start lacking confidence in who we are and how we look.

A 2021 study found that a massive 85% of women do not consider themselves to be attractive, and in a separate study, only one in five women feel confident in their appearance. However, here coach and author Tiwalola Adebayo shares some tips to boost your confidence in yourself and help you to love yourself inside and out.

Realise how powerful your body is

Adebayo, who struggled with body confidence herself when she was younger due to seeking external validation from others, says the first step to feel confident was realising how powerful her body was.

To build inner confidence, Adebayo would look in the mirror in her underwear, hold different parts of her body gently, and appreciate it.

‘I would look into my eyes and say “I love you”’, she says. ‘Even if I had spots on my face and didn’t like the way I looked, I would still say I love myself.

‘Over time, those positive affirming actions change your perspective of how you feel about yourself.’