It’s so easy not to feel great about your body, you look around you and only see Photoshopped or sickly thin models that look nothing like the average woman and ads all around you that tell you that you aren’t good enough. It’s more than convincing and it’s a multi-billion-dollar industry that relies on you not feeling good about yourself. But – have no fear – there is a way to fight back! Loving your body is not impossible, but it is a different journey for each person, and not an easy process to go through. However, you’re not alone, and you have a community of people to support you, so let’s see how you can reconnect with your body.
Stop the war
So many of us are at war with our bodies. We hate them for looking a certain way, moving how we don’t want them to and not having the ability to do something we want. We resent them for not being like someone else and we are constantly fighting them to change. But, we don’t see that our bodies are our home. That they are working so hard every day to keep us alive and that we have all the control over what they do and how they act. Start forgiving your body and just letting it be. Start loving your body, little bits at a time. Find some things you love about yourself and focus on that. After you’ve fallen in love with small pieces, you can start falling for the rest. Treat your body like a friend, not an enemy, because it is the closest friend you will ever have.
Stop the negative self-talk
Whenever you find yourself listing all the things you don’t like about your body, stop yourself immediately and turn the narrative around. Start small – find the pieces that are easy for you to love and tell yourself how much you love them. The next step is moving on to loving the parts of you that you couldn’t love before. Find beauty in every part of your body and celebrate it. Look into the mirror and love yourself for who you are, without comparison to other people.
Change something
Sometimes, no matter how much we love our bodies, there are some things we want to change. That is perfectly fine, and it’s something that we can do. However, the motivation is what is important here. You should never try to change your body out of hate, but rather out of love. And if you are going to do something, always do your research to get the best care possible. Doing research isn’t hard: for example, you can find out about coolsculpting on the clinic’s website, and then decide whether you want to go in for a live consultation. Make sure that any procedure you want to do is non-invasive and perfectly safe. Remember: changing your body will not make you love it more, but the want to change can come from the love for your body and want for it to be the best it can, whatever that might mean to you.
Self-care
Before love, comes care. It might be hard for you right now to love your body, but you can still take care of it. Buy your favorite body cream and treat your skin. Get those high-end skincare products. Drink plenty of water, find a comfortable place to sit. Soak up the sun. Treat yourself to a spa weekend or a day in nature. Do things that feel good and take care of yourself as if you were taking care of your best friend. This is especially important in the times when you feel sad and don’t want to do anything for yourself.
Diet and exercise
Just because you have a balanced diet and you are exercising doesn’t mean you don’t love your body. A balanced, nutritious diet is needed for every human being to keep us healthy and running at max capacity. But the most important thing is that you are not restricting yourself or denying yourself the little treats in life. If you feel like having some candy, go ahead, you’re not hurting anyone. Your body wouldn’t be craving it if it didn’t need it. As far as exercise goes, it’s a great thing, and most importantly, it’s something to be enjoyed, not used as a punishment against yourself. Exercise is a way to celebrate everything your body can do, to help you go through emotions and to keep you healthy and ready for anything that might come your way, but make sure you are doing it out of love, not hate.
Remember that changing the years, or even decades-old image that you have of yourself is hard and that it takes time. You’ll go through ups and downs, and you will never reach an endpoint, but every day is a new chance for you to wake up loving yourself and leading a happier life.