I would lose weight, but it was never enough. I would cut out fruit, but it was never enough. And so I ended up spending all of my time chasing this sensation of fullness.

The same pattern happened when I decided to accept my body as it is. I would feel wonderful in the morning and then look in the mirror and feel the wave of self-hatred overcome me. I would eat a ‘normal’ meal and then secretly weigh chicken at dinner.

I would beat myself up for not getting this body love thing ‘right’. I didn’t want to recognize the ups in the presence of downs.

I was seeking fullness while reinforcing emptiness.

This sensation of fullness – as I would later learn – is actually a deep trust in your core that you are enough in this moment. This is self-worth.

When we lack self-worth we feel like we are not enough and therefore nothing we do or have is ever enough.

There is one practice that helped me build my self-worth and let go of my fixation on the emptiness. It’s something that we, as women, need to do more of.

Celebrating your efforts.

It’s easy to get caught up in the perfection vortex of ‘nothing I do is ever enough!’ We abandon any sense of appreciation for our efforts in favour of wanting more…and more.

Celebrating our efforts reinforces the fact that we are enough right now.

It’s a necessary ingredient to self-worth.

As Tara Mohr says in her book, Playing Big, “If we never hear ourselves owning – or even hinting at – what we’ve overcome, created, nurtured, or completed in our lives, how can we know competence, strength and resilience as part of who we are?”

Your journey doesn’t have to be over to be worthy of celebration.

You have courageously done so much already. Simply making the decision to love yourself and leave dieting behind takes big lady-balls and is worthy of a thousand scissor kicks.

Make a conscious effort to praise yourself for every second you put into loving yourself unconditionally…and know that you are damn well worthy of tooting your own horn.

Take time to recognize how far you’ve come. Honour every bite of your success. Let the world hear you roar.

Share your celebration with me! Tell me what you are proud of in the comments below…

Be Smashing!