Oxygen Magazine. A few months back I had the opportunity to share my story on body-image & body-shaming in Oxygen magazine. Body image is something that most people struggle with in one way or another, and it usually starts pretty early. 

Growing up, I was always the “skinny girl” and I always had a really hard time putting weight on. While this might seem like a total blessing to some, I never felt that way about it, because at my lowest normal weight I medically fell in the “underweight” category. I grew up really self-conscious of my body and my weight. People constantly made comments on my weight, joked about me having anorexia and questioned my eating habits.

Whatever side of the spectrum you fall, chances are you’ll experience some form of body-shaming and that can seriously mess with your psyche. You have to be able to realize the damage it’s creating and stop it. So I challenge you to stop it. (Easier said than done I know, but it’s definitely do-able) Your body is beautiful and perfect. Let’s change the way we see our bodies and ourselves. I’m sharing a few tips that help me when I’m struggling and hopefully they’ll help you too!

1. Know that you’re completely normal. Most people struggle with body-image, especially women. There is almost always at least one thing that we wish we could change about our bodies. Know that you’re normal (everyone has these type of thoughts) and that you can make a change for the better. You’re in control of your most powerful resource, your mind. Change your thoughts and your reality will start to change too.

2. Re-direct your thoughts. Watch your self-talk. If you catch yourself using some negative self-talk, acknowledge it and then re-direct your thoughts back to the positive side of things. The more you can catch yourself in the negative self-talk cycle, the more you can re-direct back to the positive side and the easier it’ll become. Start practicing now.

3. Change up your social media. Most of us are so used to seeing just one specific body type. Just one. The media usually portrays a very specific body type and it’s one that hardly anyone fits into. Constantly seeing these images can be seriously damaging if we start comparing ourselves to them. I know you can’t always control what you see throughout the day but you can control what you see on your social media. If you follow fitness/beauty/celebrity accounts, make sure that you’re following a variety of different body types-not just one. And if you find that a certain page doesn’t make you feel so good or is distracting you from you what you’re working towards, just unfollow. You control the content you see through social media, so make sure you’re doing what’s best for you.

4. Focus on everything you love instead of the things you wish you could change. It can be easy to get caught up on the things that you wish you could change about yourself, but don’t go down that path. There are a million other reasons that you can and should be totally grateful for! Think of everything that you’re blessed to have instead of what you wish you could change.

5. Realize that you’re usually your own worst critic. Chances are you’re the only one that notices that thing you don’t like about yourself. And heck, that thing you don’t like may be something that other people LOVE about you. One of my best friends HATES her nose, hates it. I seriously LOVE it! I love her nose and always have, even before I knew she hated it. We’re hardest on ourselves and usually see ourselves in a different light than everyone else does. For every negative comment you make about yourself, replace it with three positive ones. 

6. Support others but don’t compare yourself. Like I went over in last week’s blog, comparing yourself to others can be detrimental. Your mind will start taking you down a  really dark road that you don’t want to be on. Acknowledge others’ gifts and talents, but don’t let that shadow or stop you from pursuing your own. Just because someone else has something, doesn’t mean you can’t too. Lift others up, support each other and know that you’re on your way too.

Using these tips doesn’t mean that you’ll be completely immune to outside triggers, but just like everything, the more you practice, the better you’ll get. Keep practicing the tips above and before you know it, your self-image & confidence will start to improve drastically.

Remember, your body is amazing & beautiful! 

Keep your thoughts happy & your self-talk positive!

Until next time,

Xoxo

Ashley