This trick will make you feel better about yourself

Well, I think that's the most clickbait-y title I've ever written, isn't it!? But bear with me on this one. I promise that I really have found a trick that will make you feel better about yourself. It will give you the fresh perspective you need and make you feel energised and motivated. It's pretty simple. Embarrassingly so in fact.

You basically just need to look at your life through the eyes of your 15 or 16 year old self. Try it.

I've been doing it everytime I feel like I'm not keeping up with everyone else or wondering whether I'm wasting my time doing the wrong thing. I put myself in 15 year old Sophie's shoes and I get a whole fresh perspective.

Because 15 year old Sophie would be like WOAH, you own your own house?! In an entirely different city to your parents and family?! And you live with a boy?! Who wants to marry you?! Nice work.

She'd be obsessed with the fact that I work in a city centre doing a pretty cool job that I love (most of the time!). She'd be particularly impressed with the midweek dinner dates with the girls and the post work cocktails.

15 year old Sophie would be pretty surprised that I'd plucked up the courage to start my own blog on the internet (she's probably also be surprised that the internet is a thing you can get on your phone these days and not via the gigantic desk top in her parents spare room) and had met loads of new friends from it.

She would be very impressed that I get to go on holidays a couple of times a year and would think that I was very cool for sometimes choosing city breaks rather than just opting for the sunniest island. If she could somehow know all of the places she would go in the next ten years, she'd be walking round high school bragging to anyone that would listen.

The main thing that 15 year old Sophie would be shocked by though, would be how confident and self assured I am now. How I am quite happy to choose the things that I want to do and wear and listen to, rather than trying to fit in with everyone else. How secure I am in my friendships and my relationship and my life choices.

And when I think about my life through her eyes, I can't help but feel way better about myself. It's a pretty good way of seeing how far you have come, how different your life is because you chose how to shape it. And it's difficult to beat yourself down with the big old comparison stick when you're giving yourself credit for your own hard work.

Try it. Give it a go. Put yourself in 15 year old you's shoes and see how your life looks from their angle. And, of course, let me know how you get on...