After another bleak British winter, summer is finally looming! The trees are getting greener, the smell of BBQ is in the air and suddenly we all have a desire to start drinking pina coladas out of coconut shells. Yes, summer certainly seems stress free! Or does it?
If you are anything like me, summer time usually sends alarm bells ringing. Year in year out, you find yourself embarking on a relentless and manic obsession with getting ‘beach body’ ready. I’ve been on a long journey of acceptance with my body for the last four years. But despite coming on leaps and bounds from where I first started, every year I find myself tormented by the images of ‘beach body’ perfect insta models and ‘shape up for summer’ campaigns. While I strongly encourage regular exercise and a healthy lifestyle, I don’t believe this should manifest into an unhealthy and incessant obsession with body image. However, for many of us this is a reality. But comparing yourself to insta models can be self-destructive and overtime very demoralising. At the end of the day you are you and they are them. It is you that you must learn to accept and love. Otherwise you’ll be constantly striving for an unrealistic standard of perfection. Body confidence has nothing to do with your shape or size. It’s a mindset, which once adopted can completely change the way you see yourself and the way you live your life. We caught up with Laura, Katie, Paige and Elinor, talking about what body confidence means to them and why you should embrace imperfection rather than constantly push for perfection.
Laura Frosdick:
“Body confidence is something that I, like many others, have struggled with for several years and still occasionally struggle with today. To me, the idea of body confidence used to be something that only people who spent hours upon hours at the gym, and drunk those protein shakes that never look quite as nice as those lush freak shakes from The Pudding Pantry, could achieve.
But now, I personally think the idea of body confidence is just about loving your body and not focusing too much on your imperfections, rather than having that beach body that seems to take living at the gym to achieve. As I found, most of the time the little things about my body that I hate (like that one stray hair just above my left eyebrow that I just can’t seem to ever pluck) aren’t noticeable to other people. And that it’s the body confidence that people notice more than your body itself.
It’s definitely not easy to gain body confidence. For me, it took going to Pole Dance Society, and basically standing in a room of other people in the tightest pair shorts I’ve ever owned to for me to understand just how much my body can do, and how little other people can notice the little things about my body that I don’t love.”
Elinor Feasey
“Body confidence to me means being reasonably happy with what you see in the mirror when you look at yourself naked. That doesn’t mean being overly happy with every little aspect of your body – I’m certainly not there yet! – but not being worried about your appearance before you even do anything to it. Part of my body confidence has come from knowing what clothes suit me, and presenting the best version that I can of myself to the general public. It has also come from knowing what my body can do – I did a lot of dancing when I was younger and I swim regularly now. Knowing that my body works for me for the most part, and that I’m dressed to present myself in the best way possible, really helps me. However, I know that my body isn’t perfect. I don’t have a flat stomach, I’m not as petite as I’d like to be, and I have a lot of stretch marks around my hips and chest. But the images portrayed as perfect in the media are photoshopped and airbrushed to the point where the models and their photos are very different, so I try to not let it worry me. Perfection is exhausting, pointless and frankly unattainable, so I wouldn’t let it worry you either.”
Paige Roden
“As someone who has struggled with anorexia and now trains in body building, body confidence has been an interesting journey for me. I have noticed that there is often an association created between body confidence and a lack of clothing. To suggest that body confidence equates to flaunting a lot of flesh is implying that your body is for the pleasure of others to look at. When I think of body confidence, I see this view as being extremely inaccurate.
I know what styles and cuts suit me, and what is not as flattering, however I have the confidence to choose what I wear and when I wear it for me. As someone who is bodybuilding, it means I love my body and I want to improve my weaker areas. To clarify, seeing weaker areas does not mean I hate myself. It means I want to grow and strengthen my body even further.
To me, body confidence is being comfortable in my body and my attire, and if I’m not comfortable it’s only because of myself, and not how others perceive me. I will happily leave the house in joggers and shapeless jumpers as well as go out in clothes that flaunt my curves. I dress my body and see my body from my own perspective, and have grown to simply push out comments from others. My body, my rules.”
Katie Hall
“Body confidence is letting go of your inhibitions and loving your body now, as is. It’s about embracing your flaws (even trying to love them!) and learning that they are what truly makes you unique.
Share the message of self-love because everyone has something that they deem to be “imperfect” but you’re beautiful just the way you are. Confess your insecurities so we can all feel strong about letting go of the trivial things that hold us back.
I have and am in love with my belly rolls because they remind me every day that I have a high enough body fat percentage to be the fully functioning woman I was made to be! You may be a work in progress but I promise you that you are always worth far more than any number on the scale, fit tea or ‘slim down for summer’ training guide.
Put on that bikini and don’t say anything to yourself that you wouldn’t say to your best friend because you need to be kind to yourself so you can truly conquer the things that matter. Besides, now you’re dressed in that bikini, you already have that “bikini body” you’ve been aiming for.” Edited by Jenine Tudtud
Sources:
Photos provided by those interviewed.
https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/rb-cms/rbv5/dev/uploads/cover_images/…