By Laila Barboza
Women all struggle with self-love at one point or another, some more than others. However, finding inner peace with yourself and making yourself your best friend is more challenging than you think. According to PRNewswire, “more than 1 in 2 women struggle with self-love and self-doubt.”
A poem from a movie that stood out to me was from The Kindergarten Teacher; Yoav, a five-year-old student says, “Anna is beautiful, Beautiful enough for me. The sun hits her yellow house, it’s almost like a sign from God” this poem stood out to me a lot. Suppose we all thought that we were beautiful enough (because indeed we are). Self love will ensure that we are our true selves that we know who we are and we are confident in that. We as women are strong.
Mary Jelkovsky, social media influencer known for her book The Gift of Self Love, has genuinely helped me through my self-love process, shares the story of her eating disorder and her recovery and how much happier she is that she started loving her body instead of being obsessed with her looks or comparing herself to others.
You can find her amazing novel online on Amazon or her website maryscupoftea.com/gift-of-self-love.
Here are some fun facts about women’s self-love:
- Covid-19 has had a slightly more positive impact on women’s self-love than negative. Almost two-thirds of women (64%) feel the COVID-19 pandemic has not changed how they think about themselves in the US. However, a quarter of women in the US (25%) say they feel more negative about themselves now, and only 11% say they feel better about themselves than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Frequent social media users have lower levels of self-love. However, they are twice as likely to say they get the emotional support they need compared to non-users.
- 37% of single women and 38% of minority women rank in the lowest quartile on the Self Love Index, compared to 21% of married and 25% of non-minority women.
- People from minority groups in the US have a Self-Love Index of 59 compared to 63 among those not from minority groups. LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities taking part in the survey are more likely to be in the lowest 25% of self-love scores.
- Frequent feelings of anxiety and signs of depression are felt by a slightly higher proportion of people in the US than the global average. There is no significant difference by gender. However, 43% of under 35’s often felt down/depressed, anxious, and worried too much.
- 41% of those who use social media for two hours or more frequently feel down or depressed, and 42% of heavy social media users worry too much and often feel anxious.
- People in the US who are single have lower Self-Love, with an average score of 58, compared to 63 among those in a relationship.
- Self-Love increases with age in the US. People under 35 are significantly more likely to be in the lowest 25% of the Self-Love scores (41% compared to only 9% of those 55 and over).
- The top three causes of low confidence among women in the US are: financial status (31%), feeling I am not making progress towards the things I want in life (23%), the state of the world (e.g., politics, the economy) (22%)