By Anna Brinson
Having a healthy relationship with one’s body and self can be difficult, considering how our bodies are constantly changing throughout our lives and how body image is portrayed by society. There are three types of body acceptance: body positivity, body acceptance, and neutrality. Idealized or unrealistic bodies can influence body image through the media, our relationships with family and friends, as well as how those around us speak and feel about bodies and appearances.
Depending on where you’re at in your body image journey, here are some tips that can help alleviate distress towards yourself and your body to work towards body acceptance:
- Appreciate all your body can do: Whether that is allowing yourself to play with your children, walk your dog, run errands, travel the world, or dance!
- Tailor your social media: Follow accounts that make you feel good. Try to stay away from accounts that promote dieting, and intensive exercise that lead to obsessive thoughts, and/or comparisons.
- Surround yourself with people who speak and feel highly about bodies and appearances: I know this can be easier said than done, but it is important to surround yourself with people who do not speak negatively about their bodies or other people’s bodies. People project insecurities, and we should be praising our differences.
- Wear clothes that make you feel good: Clothes are meant to fit us, we are not meant to fit our clothes. As you are working towards building a relationship with yourself and your body, it is important to feel physically comfortable while doing so.
- Remind yourself that true beauty is not only skin deep: When you feel good about yourself and who you are, it displays a special kind of confidence, self-acceptance, and vulnerability that makes you beautiful regardless of whether you physically look like a supermodel.
- Fight the voice in your head that is telling you that you are not good enough: It is important that when we are having negative body image thoughts to question and ask ourselves, “Is this true?” “What would it mean if so?” “In what ways can I adaptively cope with this feeling?” “Who can I reach out to for support?”
Your body is the only place you live, so take care of it with kindness and gentleness. If you are experiencing any negative thoughts about your body, we are here to help refocus and reframe that inner dialog to be one of acceptance, neutrality, or positivity, depending on your goals.
Contact us to see how we can support you in this part of your journey!
