Our self image is informed by so many things in this digital age – celebrities, parents, friends, the media … it’s easy to get lost and forget to love your body amidst all the messages that tell us to be thinner, richer, faster, better. Here are a few ways that I show my body love and appreciation, which have in turn helped me to change how I feel about myself. View Post
A 2015 study from Common Sense Media about Children, Teens, Media and Body Image reported that 80% of 10-year-old girls have been on a diet. The research also found that more than half of girls and one-third of boys ages six to eight want thinner bodies. I just want to let that sink in for a moment – this is children we are talking about. So I would be surprised if anyone made it to adulthood without at least being aware of the pressure that is placed upon people to look a certain way. Where are kids learning these behaviours? Where are they picking up the idea that thinner bodies are better bodies? The same as adults, these are behaviours that we learn from the things, people and events around us.
We have a lot of people and things in our lives that influence how we see ourselves and our world, including family, friends, film and television, magazines, the people we follow on social media, teachers, and coaches to name a few. If all (or most) of those influencers are saying something negative about your body type, then it’s inevitable that those messages are going to start seeping through – no matter what age you are. As our media landscape has already proven, being bombarded with messages about striving for “the perfect body” has horrifying results. Part of my journey to having a healthy relationship with my body involved recognising who/what the influencers were in my life, and reconsidering whether or not those influences were healthy ones or ones that were to my detriment.
When it comes to body image, there are a lot of things that can impact the way that we feel about our bodies – the glossy mags that move from slamming a celeb’s cellulite in one issue to their bikini body specials in the next, the models we see in magazines and on catwalks, TV shows, movies, music videos, our social media feeds and even our friends and family. All of these things go toward how we decide how we feel about our bodies. So how do you choose who to listen to and who to ignore? View Post
It’s really easy to make negative throwaway comments about yourself, whether it’s how smart you are, how you look without makeup or your body. I notice it all the time, I overhear in dressing rooms, at the beach, and see it on social media. I notice it most in summer, when you have a combination of the pressure of having a bikini body and all the “New Year, New Me” diet nonsense being thrown at you. Babes, we need to stop the negative self talk, we need to stop putting ourselves down! View Post
Right now, you might not love your body. You might not know how to love your body, or you might wish your body was in some way different. That’s okay, we’ve all got to start somewhere right? I know that learning to love and appreciate our physical selves can be really hard, especially if your body is not the kind of body that’s seen and celebrated by the media. If, like me, you have a body that you’ve been told isn’t acceptable, a body that you’ve been taught is wrong. So where do you start? Here are three tips to help you start loving your body. View Post
Self love. It’s one of those terms that gets bandied about and hashtagged on Instagram, but what is it? Basically it’s about having a regard for your own happiness and well-being. I know that practising self love can be hard, especially when you’re just starting out and trying to make changes to how you think about yourself, or in the way you’ve been taught to regard yourself. It’s not about looking a certain way or conforming to a certain standard. It’s not about being full of yourself or self-absorbed, it’s about getting in touch with yourself, your body and what it needs, your own happiness and taking care of you. View Post