We all need a little help loving ourselves sometimes.
It’s unfortunate, but I think I can say confidently that everyone struggles with body positivity in one way or another. Unlearning those toxic ideologies that taught us to feel insecure about our uniqueness can be challenging to say the least, but not impossible.
You deserve to wholly love yourself and take pride in your imperfections— trust me, is worth the challenge. I’m a huge advocate for embracing every lump, curve, scar and stretch mark— which is why I’ve compiled some ideas to help you do just that.
Together we can begin addressing some of the common barriers in our relationships with ourselves and knock down the hurdles that stand in our way. With a lot of love and a pinch of hard work, you can boost your body confidence in tremendous ways.
Let’s talk about the most important topics involving body positivity, and how we can begin conquering the obstacles and implementing self-love.
SOcial Media
If you’re like me, you probably love following models, influencers, and fitness accounts, but sometimes get caught up in their facade of perfection. Taking the time to remove the people that cause you to re-evaluate yourself time and time again can have more of a positive effect than you might think.
Comparing yourself to an often unattainable, perfectly posed picture is not only toxic, but it can also greatly diminish your sense of self-worth. Instead, try finding models who have a similar body to yours, so you can appreciate their beauty in a way that relates to your own; there is also a multitude of influencers or fitness pages that encourage health and body positivity in a way that isn’t centered around physical appearance.
There is so much more to self-worth than your physique, and social media influences our mindset more than we think. By filling our news feeds with people who seek to lift us up, rather than cause us to rethink our our next meal, we can only benefit the way we view ourselves.
“Body Checking”
“Body checking” is a phrase coined by the body-positive community and it targets those unproductive inspections of your body in the mirror. This can include lifting up your shirt to look at your stomach, turning to the side to analyze your size and basically any other obsessive checks of your insecurity spots that you tend to do almost every time you look at yourself.
If this is the first time you’re learning about body checking, you might be realizing just how much you do it; next time you look in the mirror, notice where your eyes go first. These parts of ourselves that we over-analyze every day begin to look much more glaring to us than to anyone else.
Because of the tricks that our mirrors can play on us, start noticing when you do those things— and avoid them whenever you can. Here’s a little psychology trick: try focusing on the parts you like most about yourself, so you get in the habit of noticing those things first. This can begin to diminish your immediate reflex of body checking and allow you to see yourself as you are, rather than as your insecurities.
Self-Deprication
Listen, I love a good self-deprecating joke as much as the next person, but consistently making these jokes or negative comments can only reinforce those ideas into your head. You may not realize just how much our own affirmations become our truths, but constantly casting this judgment on ourselves is nothing short of mental damnation.
Phrases like “I’m just dumb” or “I’m eating like a pig” may seem normal and harmless, but they can actually play a big role in our view of ourselves. When you feel yourself thinking like this, try to stop and counteract that thought with something positive— it can go a long way!
Learning to feel confident
Maybe it’s your favorite outfit, an activity, or a group of people, but take the time to figure out what makes you feel your best. Keep those things close and implement them into your life as much as possible; we have no more room for toxicity or negativity!
Once you know the parts of life that instill the most confidence within you, run with them and keep exploring to discover more things that make you happy.
Wear your favorite outfit as much as you want, or find similar styles. Do more of those activities that make you shine, and surround yourself with positive, accepting people. No matter what it is, never feel ashamed to seek that healthy confidence.
Embracing your uniqueness
It won’t happen overnight, but longing to look like “everyone else” or have the same features as that person you envy is not productive, and will only leave you dissatisfied. Allow yourself to celebrate that your imperfections make you, you.
Every single person is beautiful in a special way; stop convincing yourself that you are the exception. You are uniquely you! Embrace that, and it becomes contagious.
Takeway:
Please never forget just how beautiful you are. I’m not going to sit behind my computer screen and tell you that you’ll never have bad days, and that you’ll never forget to love yourself on occasion. However, I can say that you have the potential to find self-worth and body confidence at any size or shape.
Improving your overall mental health starts with loving and accepting your imperfections, and is contingent on your sense of self. Be kind to yourself, because once you begin the journey of loving your body, it’ll love you right back.