We are so tough on ourselves

What do we think about ourselves? How do we feel about ourselves. This 3 minute video from Dove rings true to me. What do you think?

For me its not just about beauty. The work here is about appreciating ourselves more and NOT apologising for who we are. From my work with thousands of people on a public speaking training I've been so struck by just how common it is to feel unworthy, how we are so ashamed of ourselves.  And we can be so critical of ourselves.  We are so tough on ourselves - "If we treated our friends like we treat ourselves - we would have no friends" (not sure who said that)

I'm not a Christian but I think these words from a preacher who came on my course last week expresses the inner conflict very well.

One of the things that really hit me on Friday (on the course) was how much of our lives we spend being who other people want us to be. In my case I just want to be the person God has created me to be and not a fake ‘preacher’ the church has fashioned. The realisation had quite an impact and by the end of the trip home on Friday I felt my brain had been rewired (and it hurt!) I spent half the night talking to myself (and God) and promising never to be ashamed to be me again

You might think that shame is a strange thing to explore on a public speaking course. To be honest is not the main aim of the course - I want people to feel comfortable speaking in front of people. But if we carry a belief that we are not good enough then its hard to stand in front of people with ease. Learning how to soften this belief, step around ourselves and realising that everyone else is really worried about what people think of them is part of the work. We are not on the earth for a huge amount of timeso let us have the courage to be human, imperfect and learn to be friends with ourselves.