Smile at yourself in the mirror.

“Up until that day, I had NEVER. NEVER. EVER looked at myself in the mirror with any sort of friendly feeling towards “that dude in the mirror”. It has always been a hateful scowl looking back at me, because that’s what I was sending out. But that day, I looked at the mirror and I just smiled at myself. I marveled at how old I’ve become. I looked at my wrinkles and scars and my nonexistent hairline and the gray in my beard. Smiling the whole time. I talked to myself and congratulated myself on making it to 40, smiling and laughing the whole time. I laughed WITH myself for the first time in my life. Like a friend. I looked at myself as I would look at an old friend who I loved and respected, instead of scowling at him like I’ve always done. I feel free.”

“I went to the bathroom to wash my face before bed, and I was just doing my usual thing of messing around in the mirror, posing, all that kind of stuff, when I stopped and looked at myself and thought, “huh, I actually look really nice!” I noticed how mature I looked, how, even though I’ve gained weight since I was in school, I’m a lot more comfortable in my body, and how I just looked so much happier! I couldn’t stop smiling at myself, and then the tears started; I stood in my bathroom, staring at myself in the mirror, whilst I just sobbed with a huge smile on my face!(sounds terrifying but I promise it wasn’t that creepy)”

“I used to be very self conscious about my looks. I hated how my cheeks were a bit bigger even though I'm a pretty skinny guy. And i have a very prominent unibrow I used to be made fun of for. About 2 years ago I started smiling to myself in the mirror whenever I could. It started out awful and i hated it so much. I hated smiling, it always felt gross. Overtime it became easier to do though. Eventually I came to like my face and learnt to stop caring about things I cant stop. Acne sucks yeah, but I don't let it change how I see myself cause its temporary. My Unibrow isn't as bad as I thought, My eyebrows in general are very nice.”