Love your body without changing

Hi!

With summer coming in hot so many people are concerned about getting the perfect beach body. I’m not saying that I’m against people working hard to get the body they want, cause that would be hypocritical of me. Yet don't revolve your life and emotions around how your body looks cause you should be able to feel good in your body now! So this post is going to be ways to feel confident and happy in your body without changing it.

Obviously, not everything will work for each individual person but I’m going to share things that work for me personally.

1. Fuck it, no one cares. Honestly, if I heard someone tell me this when I was sick, my eyes would have rolled to the back of my head. As everyone’s heard countless times, no one cares what you look like so don’t stress. I must admit when I hear it I tend to ignore it as I care what I look like and that's all that matters. But at the end of the day if you are concerned what others think about your body, fuck them cause no one's opinion on your body should matter cause it is not theirs.

2. Focus on your who you are as a person. Don't set body goals, set personality goals. For people that have met me or know me, they will have different opinions on how I am. Sometimes I'm super outgoing and won't shut up then other times I'm shy and you will barely hear a peep. What has been a good distraction to deter me from constantly thinking about my body has been setting myself a goal to be more confident and friendly to everyone I come across, and try to be a better person in general. Constantly pushing my comfort zone to be more confident leaves me little time to worry if I'm bloated or look "fat".

3. Stop avoiding social situations and just live. When I was at my worst I would avoid social situations cause I was afraid of what id have to eat. I pushed away all my friends, leaving myself feeling lonely, which was my own doing. Preferring to spend my time sitting around waiting for the next meal or thinking of ways to get out of eating. Missing out on life to be skinny isnt living. So if your friends want to go out for ice cream do it, if you're out and want to grab fish and chips for dinner or a burger just do it. Say fuck it I'm living. Allow yourself a life. It is hard to think of reasons to recover and keep living when you’ve stopped being alive.

4. Stop seeing clothes and saying when I get the body I want I can wear that. I feel hypocritical saying this cause I'm really bad for seeing something and thinking wow if I lost a bit of weight here or magically got bigger boobs this would look great. Challenge yourself and just wear it now cause why to wait, just fucking wear it!.

5. Don't be scared to be bloated. It is temporary.

6. Stop comparing yourself to others! Who is going to post a photo of themselves on social media where they look shit. Seriously, the majority of photos you see are posed or have filters on them. Also, everyone's body is different, no one is the same. Own it. No one owns your body or has a copy of it so treat it like the original pieces of art it is.

7. Okay, this one might seem a bit bizarre especially if your feeling conscious about how you look, but I find posing in front of a camera makes me really confident in myself. No idea why and the majority of the time I don't even like the photos but for a brief moment it is me “feeling myself” or however you want to word it

8. Self-care! face masks, hair masks, showers, walks, putting makeup on or essentially whatever makes you feel good set sometime aside each week and do it.

9. Okay, so this one can go either way depending on what works for you. - Some people find it easier to avoid looking at there reflection in the mirror or just look briefly then walk away, so you don't examine everything till the point you feel shit. - Then there is me okay this is probably going to sound really self-absorbed but I swear it is not (that much). If I'm isolated from seeing how I look like my mind goes wild and I start imagining that I look "fat". Even though it would have only been a week and nothing would have happened, it just one of those things my mind jumps to. Then when I see my reflection, it reminds me that I haven't changed. although this has only been working for me after I have "recovered".

Okay, so these are the things that I usually try do or the mindsets I try to have when I'm feeling down about how I look. For those going through an eating disorder, I know these words will go over your head and you've probably heard them all before. No one can make you love yourself or change your mindset, it is on you. Take ownership to recognise thoughts and feelings that make you feel shit, tell them to shut up, find a distraction or find the diamond amongst the rough and turn the negative thoughts into positive ones. Sending my love to all those going through a rough time. Even though it may feel impossible to love yourself I can promise it is possible, I went from lying on my death bed wishing to stay there is if I couldn't be skinny to loving myself (the majority of the time) 25+kg heavier and having a life.