Matilda Green - The Feel Good Guide Easy Steps Towards a Happier, More Fulfilled You

When Matilda Green, bestselling author of The Lazy Girls Guide to Living a Beautiful Life , found herself facing some hard times, she knew she needed to do something to boost her happiness and her self-esteem. But what?

So she set out on a journey of discovery, embracing gratitude, mindfulness and meditation techniques, and learning how to be kind to others and to herself.

In The Feel Good Guide , Matilda pulls together everything she has learnt and shares her own experiences, in the hope that it will help others too. This practical resource, full of helpful tips and real talk, comes complete with an action plan in every chapter to get your own journey kick-started.

As Matilda says, this isnt so much about changing who you are as it is about loving who you are. Its about celebrating yourself, embracing and being proud of the person you have grown to be, and finding the right tools to help you remember just how awesome you really are.

CONTENTS

HELLO THERE!

Welcome to The Feel Good Guide. Nice to have you here with me!

Ive been on a bit of a journey of self-discovery over the last few years, partly as a result of realising that some of the traits that I thought were just a part of me were actually manifestations of weak self-esteem. You know, things like feeling jealous of others, shunning new experiences and adventures, and being incredibly vulnerable to criticism. (More on all this later.)

Chances are that, like me, youve experienced issues with your self-esteem at some stage over your lifetime. We all have. You might even be experiencing them now. If so, you are not alone! As a matter of fact, hordes of us struggle with our self-esteemeven if, from the outside, youd never guess it. It can be especially hard to believe that other people have self-esteem issues in the digital world we live in, where were bombarded with other peoples seemingly perfect lives all over social media, but the truth is that we all struggle sometimes. In this book, I want to show you how to rise above that drive towards constant comparison, and free yourself from the prison of low self-esteem.

Having strong self-esteem is super important, as it influences so many aspects of your life. It can improve your relationships with your friends and loved ones, it can have a positive impact on your work life, and it can help improve your general happiness.

In this book, Ill share with you some of the things I have learnt on my self-discovery adventure that have helped me to build strong self-esteem. Im a big believer in learning from the experiences of others, so thats why Ive pulled together all of my own experiences here. I hope that, just as they have helped shape my strong self-esteem, they will help you too.

This book isnt about making yourself into a different person. (I wouldnt bloody dream of such a thing.) Its not so much about changing who you are as it is about loving who you are. Its about celebrating your wonderful self, embracing and being proud of the person who you have grown to be, and giving you the tools that help you to remember just how bloody awesome you really are. I hope itll also help you find ways to make your star shine a bit brighter, if thats what you need.

In each chapter, youll find an action plan (or two!). These action plans are lists of things that you can start doing tomorrowor even right now, if youre a keen beanin order to begin improving your relationship with yourself, and therefore improving your life. Ive included these action plans because I truly believe that actions speak louder than words. Its all very well for me to sit here and tell you all of the ways Ive built up my own self-esteem, but I think advice needs to come with practical suggestions too. That way, you can read what I have to say, then put the things you want to into action, and start feeling more in control of your own self-esteem and your life in general.

Theres a popular saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. Dont keep doing the same thing if its clearly not working. Be open to making the changes you need to if your self-esteem isnt its best. At the end of the day, you can read all the books in the world, but change starts with you.

I believe in you. Now lets make you believe in you.

Its about celebrating your wonderful self, embracing and being proud of the person who you have grown to be.

Chapter One

SELF-ESTEEM 101

Lets crack right into it, shall we? So, strong self-esteem. What is it? Feeling good about yourself. Loving yourself. Having confidence in your own worth and abilities. Sort of obvious, right? Well, even if it is an easy thing to define, its not always so easy to actually put into practice.

The fact is that heaps of us battle with our self-esteem, and for all kinds of reasons. Thats because a lot of the things that affect self-esteem arent even related to anything in the outside world, and have everything to do with whats going on in our own little heads. It has nothing to do with whether we have achieved certain goals, or have a certain wardrobe, or have the perfect boyfriend or girlfriend, or whatever it is that we think is going to make us feel happier and better about ourselves.

Self-esteem is kind of like a little voice in your head that tells you things about yourselfand, when your self-esteem is low, it tells you all kinds of nasty stuff thats not true. Let me just repeat that last bit: thats not true. If your self-esteem voice is telling you mean stuff, its a liar.

These days, a lot of us seem to spend so much of our time wishing that we were different from how we are, that our lives were more interesting, that our bodies were better The list goes on. A lot of the time, these thoughts centre specifically on how we look. We want to change our bodies, we wish we had better clothes, and we start to think that if only we could change certain things about ourselves then our lives would be better. We would be better. We hate ourselves if were not perfect, and we compare ourselves to people who we think are perfect. We make promises to lose X amount of weight, or to go to the gym X number of times a week, or to not eat X foods and then, because we are human beings, we break our promises to ourselves and we hate ourselves even more. Its a vicious cycle, people!