Improve Your Body Image With These Reminders

Over the past few years, there has a been a shift in the marketing message. While just a start, advertising companies have begun focusing more intently on demonstrating greater inclusivity in their ads. Companies like Dove, Hanes, JCPenney, and Lane Bryant have all made an effort to show a greater range of body types in a positive light. And yet, we’re not quite there. In one study in the UK reported that one in five adults still feel shame tied to their body image.

While body-positive advertisements are a step in the right direction, body image issues don’t just disappear overnight. And it makes sense. If you think about it, we are dealing with centuries of oppressive social dictation of value, based on factors that we generally can’t control. While major social efforts are still in order, working through these issues on a personal level is an internal process that begins with the individual. Here are a few tools to keep in that belt.

Change Your Self-Talk

The National Science Foundation once reported that 80 percent of the 12,000-60,000 thoughts we have daily are negative. We can often feel helpless in the wake of so much harmful self-talk, but it’s important to recognize our role in changing them.

When you find yourself thinking negative thoughts, try to replace them with constructive thoughts. For example, if you’re trying to gain or lose weight, it’s easy to fixate on a thought like, “I am still so heavy.” Instead, replace it with “I’ve made progress” or “I haven’t made my goal yet, but I’m still working.”

Supportive self talk also goes beyond body image. It can affect your career, your relationships, your creativity, and your overall ability to be happy and thrive. It opens doors in life because it opens up possibilities you may have been shutting off to yourself without it.

Don’t Compare

In the social media world, comparison is king. The idea that our bodies are inherently ‘less than’ or bad or ugly because they don’t look like someone else’s only adds to our negative thoughts. Instead of comparing, remind yourself that humans have a vast range of features, none inherently bad. Also remember that we never get the whole picture of what we see. From social media grams to ads to a recount of someone’s success story or experience -it’s always edited to some degree. Always.

Look at Your Whole Body

When we have a negative self-image, many of us avoid our reflections in the mirror. There’s a positive aspect to this in the sense that it can help us focus on other, non-physical qualities about ourselves that we like. It can also make us feel more beautiful in the sense that we are experiencing ourselves as a whole. However, believe it or not, it can also pay to practice looking at ourselves. The trick is to focus on the whole picture and not on isolated features that you don’t like. When people look at you, they look at the whole picture and not just a single detail. It’s only fair you give yourself that grace as well.

Wear What Makes You Feel Good

When we’re insecure about the way we look, we tend to want to hide our bodies. On the other side of the spectrum, we may try to overcompensate and overdress based on what others expect someone of our body type to wear. Try to take other’s opinions about how you should dress out of the equation.

When you choose clothes, look for what makes you feel comfortable and beautiful. What makes you feel that way may not look the same as your Instagram account or magazine covers. But really, who actually cares. Beauty is subjective, and yours is the only opinion that matters as far as your appearance is concerned. A great question to ask yourself, when I put this on, whose happiness do I care about more, mine or theirs? Top Secret: it should be yours every time.

Learning how to improve your body image doesn’t happen overnight. And that’s fine. A little progress every day can go a long way.