17 Simple Ways To Feel Beautiful (That Have Absolutely Nothing To Do With The Way You Look)

1. Hold people’s eye contact, for longer than you’re used to. Really look at them, and pay attention to how connected you feel when they do the same to you.

2. Work on judging less. We’re all human and we all do it. But if you look at each person you meet as someone with a story that’s just as long and as complicated as yours, it will be easier for you to look at them as a whole, outside of the temporary light in which you’re seeing them.

3. Take something small that would normally make you very angry and just let it go. Tighten up your entire body, allow yourself to feel the irritation all in one instant, and then simply release it.

4. Eat a meal that makes you feel full and satisfied without feeling weighed down or slightly sick.

5. Do something kind for a total stranger.

6. And keep it between just the two of you.

7. Spend time around people who truly care about you and who make you feel like there’s nothing you need to change or fix about yourself.

8. Do something that scares you – something you’ve always wanted to do but that you’ve been too afraid to try.

9. Tell someone else that they’re beautiful.

10. And tell them why.

11. Go on a run with no distance or time in mind. Run five minutes if that’s all you can or want to do. Just let your body work itself up enough that your mind temporarily gets a break.

12. Give yourself the gift of more sleep. Usually the culprit is the mindless phone scrolling at night that is sucking up precious moments of potential shuteye.

13. Take a second to look at the people whom you normally have just a pure interaction with (grocery store cashiers, restaurant servers, bartenders, flight attendants). Ask them how they’re doing, and truly mean it.

14. Say “thank you” consciously and genuinely.

15. Decrease the amount of time you spend on social media. If your brain read that and thought “yeah, yeah, yeah,” just try to lessen it by few minutes at a time. Slowly but surely, you’ll get used to looking at it a tiny bit less. And even a tiny bit less is an improvement.

16. Read. Take a class. Subscribe to an online newsletter. Do whatever it takes to continue expanding your mind and challenging the way that you think.

17. Pick something about yourself that you’re proud of – that has nothing to do with your physical appearance. It can be your work ethic, your drive, your sense of humor, the way you are as a friend. Anything that makes you admire who you are, rather than what you look like.