There are so many of us (male, female, non-binary, gender queer, heterosexual, LGBTQ+, young, old, etc. etc.) who, for whatever reason, wouldn't say they liked their bodies. A lack of positivity around your relationship with your body can affect us at any stage and last any length of time - from a fleeting dislike on a particular day to a life-long hatred.
We can try to bully our bodies into being what we think we desire from controlling our eating, exercise as punishment, spending hours getting ready, spending thousands on adornments such as clothing and footwear. We can have things extended, reduced, squeezed, shaped, plucked, dyed, and remodelled. We can try every diet and subscribe to every app. We can use filters and lighting. Follow influencers and gurus. We can do just about anything, but, it seems, actually like ourselves!
So what do you do when you've just had enough?
Nothing seems to really work and nothing seems to really last. We just keep aging and fluctuating and we're getting tired of the energy it takes to try to achieve this..........whatever it is!
It's time to try something new. Something positive. It's time to start leaving diet culture and entering a new, happy and loving relationship with our bodies and ourselves. It's time for Body Positivity.
Now, it's not easy to exit Diet Culture or even know where to start in changing this, often long-standing, relationship with our body, but there are a few simple steps you can take to dip your beautiful toe in. Try these tips and see where your journey begins:
1) Switch-up your socials - Social media is a huge part of many of our lives (you're reading this!), so changing up the types of accounts you follow, and so what you see, can be a really great first step. Go through your social media platforms and unfollow any accounts that don't make you feel good about yourself. So go through and think about when you see posts from that account, does it make me feel jealous, unworthy, not as good as, spiteful, down. This can include fashion accounts where you love the clothes, but always think 'I can't buy that because I wouldn't look like that in it', accounts that encourage strict diets or exercise regimes you are not going to do, accounts showing unrealistic body transformations, etc. Anything that doesn't make you feel joy. Then replace those accounts with the realistic, the fun and the informative. Search out accounts specifically about Body Positivity, find influencers who are rocking the same body type you have right now, look up accounts of things you are really interested in learning about. Here are just a couple of good ones on Instagram to get you started:
2) Wardrobe Warrior - Set some time aside to go through your wardrobe. Get EVERYTHING out of every drawer, off every shelf and hanger and chuck it all on your bed. Set yourself up a mirror you can see your whole self in and start trying on. Try on every single thing and make yourself two piles:
Pile 1 = This fits & I like it
Pile 2 = Everything else
Having lots of things in your wardrobe that don't fit, don't suit you any more, don't feel comfortable or you just plain don't like is setting yourself up for disaster every damn day! From your socks to your sweaters everything you put on should make you feel good.
3) Mirror Madness - Go out without looking at your body in the mirror for one day (I'll let you off looking at your face if you simply couldn't leave the house without make up). What the flipparty-flarp! "I wouldn't go out of my room without looking in the mirror, let alone the house!" I hear you scream. Just give it a try, you might surprise yourself. Judge your outfit by how it makes you feel, not by how it makes you look. Do I FEEL good in this? Yep.....go on, out you go then!
These are just 3 steps you can take to start making a move in the direction of body positivity, to find out how hypnotherapy could help even more just drop me a message, also get in touch if you would be interested in finding out about my local course all about developing Body Positivity coming soon.
Warmest wishes beautiful people,
Kim
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