Last week was eating disorders awareness week. Whereas most of us don’t fall into this category. Many of us struggle with how we look. Body image has been driven to a state of beyond perfection by social media in the last 5 years.
Can we really see what we look like anymore?
Is it even possible to have an accurate body image?
How we perceive ourselves is based on so many things. There are so many variables:
• What we believe we look like, including memories, assumptions, and generalizations.
• How we feel about our bodies, our height, shape, and weight.
• Then also a sense of our bodies and how we control them. How they physically feel.
We pretty much all have these perceptions and they will be influenced by our experiences and teachings of normal and or desirable, ideal ways to look and feel. The short answer is “not really”. We are all different and how we view ourselves is influenced by so many different things that it’s almost impossible scientifically speaking to have an accurate view on how you look.
Instead, according to the National Eating Disorders organisation, we can measure whether we are body positive or body negative. What feelings are conjured up when we look in the mirror.
“Body positivity (or body satisfaction) involves feeling comfortable and confident in your body, accepting your natural body shape and size, and recognising that physical appearance says very little about one’s character and value as a person.” “A negative body image, on the other hand, involves a distorted perception for one’s shape. Negative body image (or body dissatisfaction) involves feelings of shame, anxiety, and self-consciousness.”
I am sure many of us have sat in both categories at some point. How do we start to transform our opinion of our bodies…
A few givens:
We are all different and that is not going to change.
Being slightly overweight is far healthier than yo-yo dieting.
Your body is always changing with age, time of year, tiredness, climate etc….
So how do we create body positivity?
1) Appreciating all that our bodies can do.
Being an advocate of wellbeing, ‘health’ has a role both physically and mentally. Health or wellbeing allows our bodies to be able to work and protect us from the dangers, physical and biological out there. Very topical at the moment!
2) Asking yourself what you like about yourself?
We all have something, we just need to remind ourselves. Whether it’s our intelligence, quick-wittedness, or something more physical.
3) Shut down that voice
Shutting down negative self-talk is a key to creating a positive body image, next time you hear yourself criticising try to swap for a more neutral message like: “I am ok with how I look today.” Or better still a more positive message, we are very vocal when we are negative. Imagine if we were as vocal when we looked good as we are when we are unhappy with our selves!
4) Looking at yourself as a whole.
We are not what we look like and sometimes we get trapped in relating our physical appearance to our self-esteem. Telling ourselves we are more than this repeatedly is very important and can change how we feel, how we operate, relate to others and even what we think we can achieve.
For a more positive way to live and look at yourself, try being more flexible in thought and practice.
Be ok with not looking great.
Be a bit more forgiving, laugh more, move regularly and eat real food.
And see how your body ends up. Whatever it is, may that’s exactly as its meant to be!