How many times in your life have you been having a perfectly pleasant day and then suddenly find yourself drowning in negative body image? Over the course of my life, I have had countless moments like this. But what has helped me, was not to put much think into what I didn’t like about my body but what my body does for me. I’m super thankful that I have moving legs and arms that let me walk or run, and arms that I allow me to hold my child.
Given our culture, I don’t know that body image ever fully dissipates. The notion that in order to be successful and beautiful you must be skinny penetrates every media outlet. So, everywhere you go, watch, and read the message is clear. Plenty of women and even men have the “feeling fat” or thinking their quality of life would improve if their pants were just a bit looser. Rationally we know that this is not true, but our minds are not always rational…
I would be misrepresenting myself if I said that I don’t ever experience body image issues. However, the major difference today is how I choose to respond. Today when that negative voice tries to disrupt my happiness, I realize that I have a choice. I can choose to listen to it and really get into self-hatred. Or, I can choose to not listen, knowing that nothing good can come out of it.
Some of my clients often ask me, so HOW do you choose not to engage in negative body image??? Here are a few actions that work for me:
1.) I recognize that I am having negative thoughts about my body.
2.) I explore possible explanations as to why the thoughts are occurring at this particular moment. Many might think that there are no explanations, and that it “just happens.” I encourage you to dig a bit deeper with this. It may feel like that, however, you are the only person that is actually thinking and listening to your thoughts.
3.) I make my decision not to engage. More than that, I have to ask myself do I want to engage in self-love or self-hatred today. This is what it really comes down to. It might feel like you haven’t any choice, but YOU DO!!! I’m not saying it is easy, but you can do this. It is difficult to want to choose self-love when it is so comfortable to emotionally beat yourself up. Recovery from negative body image is hard work, but it is far from impossible!
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: From this moment on I have self-worth and I will be happy with myself so I can lead a fulfilling life.