How do you maintain a positive self-image?

I exercise like a freak.

Listen to rock music.
And stuff myself on sweet stuff.

I make a list of things I’ve accomplished that were good, and put it in the 3rd person, as if I were describing someone else whom I admire. I call her Linda, and when I start feeling particularly worthless I pull out my “Linda” list and feel better.

Watch a good movie.
Think of a good saying like,“We are running on borrowed time so make the most out of it.”
Just now, I thought of two words that may make for a good mantra when one is feeling low.
“Let go.”

Another, and this one may sound unusual but I have within easy reach in my desk a folded whole center page of a Washington Post issue showing photos, names, ranks and cause of death of American soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Post does this periodically since the wars started. What is striking is that most of the dead were only 19–24 years of age. I maybe wrong in my statistical assumption but they sure were many.

Everytime I looked at their faces, their smiles, their youth I couldn’t but to feel regret they did not get the chance to maybe even fall in love or be loved by a sweetheart or have a family or attend more concerts etc. etc. At the end of looking at that page, I always feel I should not waste my life being beaten down by life’s harsh realities and that I’m still here and grateful I still get a part to play no matter how hard and sometimes unsatisfying that part is.

There seems to be a correlation with me where I get depressed when I don’t exercise, so when I exercise after awhile, I get happy again.

I exercise to stay in good shape so I look and feel good and will play my guitar as that is something I am good at and makes me feel good to be able to shred a few tasty blues tunes to get rid of the blues.

I occasionally try to remind myself that every single person is just a temporary being living on a piece of dust flying through an unimaginably-huge universe. It helps me get over myself, and frees me live in this current moment in the most genuine way I can. Concerns about self-image seem to fall away.

We’re all lucky to live a short time in an amazing world.

I remind myself, “At least I’m not Hitler!”

You have no idea how infrequently you’ll ever feel bad about yourself if you set the bar that low.

Positive mental attitude, comes really easy for me. I always have looked at everything in a positive light, throw away the bad shit with a smile & a wave.
I’m aware that i’m very lucky & by gum…..I make the most of it! :¬)

Eat lots of candy and just overall anything sweet.
Exercise.
Take showers more frequent and dress nicely.
You will feel a difference.

@tom_g love your positive outlook
I exercise a lot, especially when I’m not feeling like it. Makes a huge difference.
When I’m really low, I allow myself to have a duvet day. I just have to put a time frame on it. I do the positive affirmations, gratitude lists, etc too.
I go for scenic walks.
Basically anything that will help to lift my spirits a bit.
Sometimes, I surrender to it and it takes me quite a while to emerge from the fog.

I also use posiitve affirmations, @hawaii_jake.

Positive self-talk.

If you tell yourself you’re a badass, you’ll eventually become one.

I don’t do positive affirmations or whatever. They never worked for me. Which actually made me feel worse.

I remind myself that I can endure this one day at a time (Wundayatta time). That I will get through it. And then I do what I can to ameliorate the causes of the depression. What works best, though, is love. If I can feel the love, and specifically the love of people I am very interested in, then it’ll go away.

It also helps if people tell me I’m doing well at one thing or another. But that happens rarely. So the other thing I do is to feel the feeling and learn to let it go. That feeling doesn’t have to define me at this moment. It is just part of a lot of other stuff. Then I have to go home and take care of my wife and kids. I try not to snap at them.

I don’t maintain a positive self-image at all times. Sometimes I choose to wallow in a completely negative feeling, but I only allow it for an hour or two a day, and then I banish it to the background and “buck up” as the saying goes.

I don’t lol.

Although next best thing is, I go on power walks. As I’m walking around, I imagine that I’m a god, and destroying things and people as I walk by. Sometimes I imagine a zombie invasion, and I picture myself being all epic by slaughtering them, or thinking up escape routes based on my real life surroundings. Makes me feel a little more awesome after that.

Whenever I’m in a funk then I remind myself of how (so far) I always come out fine if not better. I will write/type what it is I want and what I need to get there. Some of things are huge and so I say, “yeah, that one’s a little beyond me but these others are happening or can be done.” By hook or crook, I make myself get there because there’s so much I want and so little time I want to waste anymore.

Stay AWAY from my mother!