Tell Me Why Do You Love Yourself and What Makes You Special

[Jay]

The reason why I create this thread is because I notice a lot of Gayspeak members brought a lot of self esteem issues to the table.

To overcome self esteem issue, one has to love himself/herself before someone else can love you. This is possibly the most important factor to overcome low self-esteem.

So use this thread to tell me why you love yourself. What makes you special. What makes you awesome. What are your talents, skills etc. Tell me what makes you great. Do you have any good stories about yourself or someone else that can inspire others to gain their self esteem? Bring everything to the table.

Sometimes you do need to brag, gloat and pat your own back in order to gain confidence and to overcome low self esteem issue.

Take pride in yourself and in all you do. Always feel good about who you are.

Go ahead. This is you self appreciation avenue.

To value his own good opinion, a child has to feel that he is a worthwhile person. He has to have confidence in himself as an individual.

- Sidonie Gruenberg

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

[Jay]

I'll start first.

Let's talk about my leg.

I've mentioned about my leg in a different thread before but here we go again.

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I injured my left leg when I was around 11 years old. I fell downstairs and I didn't bother to tell my parents about it. I didn't seek for a medical treatment.

As a result, my left leg bends. Being morbid obese made it worse.

I had a problem to accept my left leg after I lost my weight. I mean, I almost reached 'perfection' but my perfection was destroyed by my bended leg.

My aunt once had a conversation with my mom in our living room. I just happened to be in our kitchen at the time.

She asked my mom if it's possible to get a treatment for my leg. "It's such a pity. He has a very nice look but with such ... leg."

Do you know how difficult for me to swallow that moment? It built regret, anger and self pity. I tried to pull, push and hit my leg with stuff hoping to straighten it out.

To make the situation more stressful, my office is located right opposite of high end boutiques like Prada, Gucci etc. Their salespersons look perfect from head to toe. Sometimes they would drop by to my office building to buy food at the cafeteria. I bumped into them once in a while.

I kept asking myself, "Why can't I look like them? They look perfect. Slender waist. Perfect height. Etc."

From 2009 - 2010, I did my best to avoid seeing myself from head to toe in a mirror. I was also scared and ashamed to walk in public by myself. But I forced myself to do so as I can't avoid the public.

In the end of 2010, I decided to make a change because I was getting sick of self pity and feeling bad about myself. I worked my butt off to lose weight and I will not let my injured leg to be the party pooper of my endless hard work.

One day I walked toward a mirror that reflects my whole body from head to toe. I pointed my right index finger to my own reflection and said, 'Fuc* you."

I never looked back ever since.

Nowadays I do my best to challenge and put my confidence to the test. I run every single day in public with my injured leg. I walk as much as possible in public.

If people stare at my leg, be my guest. They don't bother me.

I don't feel bad anymore. My injured left leg doesn't bother me anymore. In fact, my imperfection makes me feel so badass and hardcore. Running and climbing stairs from ground floor to the 30th floor everyday with an injured leg, man ... I feel so badass. Oh yeah, I feel sexy and I do know I am sexy. There, I said it.

Another thing. I'm still being approached by a lot of guys. Even though I have a so called crippled leg. So not bad, huh?

Confidence defeats all of your weaknesses.

[pellaz]

i really have no choice, no one will love me unless i do it too.

your left leg; not a self esteem issue:
get that taken care of as soon as you can. for example the knee(s) will have to last you your life time. I would be concerned for the muscle structure too.

[Scotty]

I love my dick has given me hours of enjoyment

[Sylph]

Well, I did type my whole life story out just now, but my computor just shut off for no reason !! :mad: .

But to summarize all the stuff that I had typed I will say this ;

I've been through soo much in my tiny 18years of life, that I've learned to be able to love people for the people that they are and that life is too short to be miserable over things that are out of our control. My mom always told me that, Life will never give you more than you can really handle.

Life is a story and your the author, how you write it, is how you'll live it. Don't allow disappointments and downfalls ruin you, as you are a person with ideas,love,purpose and most of all, a soul. Therefore, you must not allow anything or one to destroy any of these things, as they are what make you, you and us humans as a whole.

Individualism rocks


"Be unafraid to be you, and you at your best"- My self mantra :biggrin: .

[matty7]

things i like about myself - My generous nature , dont know where it comes from but i would give the person next to me the shirt off my back if they needed it more - negative side to that is i know people(certain friends) expect me to pay for things just because i work, i have stopped doin that by the way !!

negetive things for me is - one day is wonderfull n im super happy , next day i can really hate where my life is goin (or not) - nothing has change between the days except my state of mind - i need to remember to pull my self up from those down days more

[Rainbowmum]

Things I like about myself , is my never say die attitude.
My caring heart ,the person I have become., my directness.

Being a mother , no feeling like it and now a grandmother Yay.. it's so awesome and cool.

My daughter in-law gave up keeping the girls clean when I am around , we make mud pies , and throw then at each other ,jump in puddles, run through Autumn leaves , and have super soaker water fights.

Living my life with out regrets, and having the ability to learn from my mistakes.

Being able to look in the mirror and love the person looking back at me.
Even though she no longer can fit into a size 8 jeans , I am happy fitting in to a size 14.

This working body has brought two wonderful boys into the world. it has been stretched to the max, at one stage during breast feeding , I made Dolly look like ," The itty bitty titty committee."

Being old enough to know better and young enough to do to again.

What don't I like about me , would have to be my protectiveness and temper if anyone hurts someone I love.

[Pix]

I believe the defining moment in my life happened when I was 5 that has helped me survive ever since.

I'd lived with my Granny almost from birth until I was almost 5 when Mom got into a fight with her and took me away. She and Dad were alcoholics and, frankly, unfit parents. I didn't like being taken away from everything I knew and loved, I didn't know these 2 strange adults who didn't always handle alcohol well, Dad fell asleep with a lit cigarette in his hands that inspired nightmares of fires chasing me, and worst of all they didn't take care of me. Once I woke up (age 5) mid-morning to find both 'rents passed out from their drinking and tried waking them to feed me. Mom pushed me away and I went to Dad who finally sat up and slapped me across the room. As I lay sobbing he asked with such contempt, "Why are you so whiny?" (Being 5 I didn't think to say "Because I'm 5 dipshit, if you don't want to take care of me then send me back to Granny's." But I suppose it would've just gotten worse if I had.)

I woke up another weekend mid-morning and played awhile outside waiting for the 'rents to get up. After I got hungry enough I was tempted to try waking them again but didn't dare after the last time. And then the "wheels started spinning" as Granny liked to say about my brain and I put a chair near the cereal cabinet. I still couldn't reach it so I grabbed a spatula to open the cabinet and then got a wooden spoon to aid in prying out the box of Cheerios, catching it in my arms as it fell out. After that the bowl (in reach while I was on the chair) and milk were easy. As I ate my breakfast the fear I had of my 'rents diminished and I was filled with the feeling of "I can do it myself!"

That feeling stayed with me and though I often had to deal with chaotic situations and dysfunctional adults I always had faith in myself to handle what life threw at me, even if I had very little trust in the adults around me, and became very independent. And to this day the memory of when I first got my own Cheerios gives me a smile.

[Thibideau]

I appreciate this thread so thank you Jay.

I find it difficult to answer this though. It's not that I don't have things I like about myself. It's just hard to put them into words and convey uderstanding. But here goes anyways.

I overcame depression which was no small task. I still struggle with it daily but I'm managing(Without medication either!). So I love my Perseverance.

I overcame my excessive weight. Coming out of college I was 235 pounds and I currently weigh 165 pounds. I lost some from having a very physically demanding job but the most of it was from changing my eating habits and exercise. I was determined to get back to where I was before depression took control of my life.

I have a mentally delayed sister who is 10 years older then me. So when most kids were playing with GI Joes I was learning what to do when she had a seizure. It made me fairly mature for my age growing up and also inspired a great deal of compassion and understanding for people in similar situations.

Also due in part to having to help take care of my sister, I was became very creative and imaginative.

I also like my laugh, and I wish I laughed more often. I have a very hardy laugh but I only hear it once in a blue moon.

That's all I got right now. I can't think of anything else wihout sort of forcing it.

[trywait]

thanks to jay for starting this thread.

what i appreciate most is that, deep down, im naturally an optimist. i always look at the brighter side of things. of course, this doesnt mean im disillusioned from reality. im still a pragmatist but when things seem to be weighing me down and i somehow reach the end of my rope, i just tie a knot at the end of it, and work my way up again.