How do you feel about your body?
Did you feel about your body when you were a kid? Is it different than it is today?
If you fall in the norm, you don’t like your body all that much. Most women don’t. (75% of women don’t want to leave their home due to how they feel in their body!)
And it is no wonder, when you are faced day after day with the same voices in your head, degrading or shaming you as you get dressed, or look at yourself in the mirror. This is what is happening in our culture today.
Society has pushed a body ideal down our throats. The only way to be successful, accepted and loved is if you look a certain way. With that said, the messages we get are to either fit into society’s ideal image or to embrace and love the body you have.
So, what do we do if we don’t like either option?
Fitting into society’s thin ideal means dieting, deprivation and restriction that fails 95% of the time! That does not seem like a good choice. (read why here)
And yet, for many loving our bodies seems unrealistic, far-fetched, ridiculous and even impossible.
Enter Body Neutrality…
Body Neutrality lies in the middle of what I call the Body Image continuum.
On one end is body hatred and body dislike and on the other end is body acceptance and body love. Body neutrality is in the middle. It’s about seeing our bodies as neither positive or negative. It is much more feasible to step into a neutral space of your body, when you have spent much of your life hating it.
Body Neutrality is a resting place on the way up this continuum towards body acceptance, body positivity and body love and it’s a healthier space to be in over body dislike and body hatred. It also feels more achievable for many people than body acceptance, positivity, or love.
This resting place turns down the volume of both our internal voices (telling us we need to change our bodies) and society’s external voices of looking a certain way, and turns up the volume of listening to, and trusting ourselves and our bodies.
It is a shift in the way we see ourselves.
Good Gift/Bad Gift analogy
When I talk to clients about moving towards this space of body neutrality, I use this analogy:
When we receive a great gift from a friend or loved one, we tend to take really good care of it, we treasure it. When we receive a bad gift from a friend or loved one, it tends to end up in the back corner of our closet, re-gifted or maybe even donated.
The way we treat our bodies is similar. We tend to treat ourselves (both in our self-talk and in our behavior) the same way we feel about ourselves. If I like myself, I will treat myself with more kindness, compassion, and respect. If I hate myself, I will continue to beat myself up with negative self-talk and possibly punish myself with restriction, binging, over-exercising, or more…
Body Neutrality- How to taking a few steps up the body confidence continuum
- Focus on what your body can do, rather than what it looks like
- Think about your body as being the vehicle you get to experience life in
- Practice self-compassion
Click here more information on Body Neutrality
What about Body Positivity?
Body Positivity is a social movement focused on acceptance of all bodies, regardless of size, shape or weight…that also challenges today’s beauty standards. It was developed to encourage people to love their bodies, while also showing more diverse images of women’s bodies in the media.
It gave permission for women to realize they have the right to think positively in their bodies, regardless of size, shape, or weight. This movement is important, due to the fact that it fights against ‘societies thin ideal’.
When you feel comfortable and confident in your body, you have the ability to say: Yes, I can…I can talk positive to myself, I can love my body, just as I am. Period. End of story”
Body Positivity falls on the Body acceptance and body confidence side of the body image continuum. (opposite body hatred and body dislike)
So how about you? Where do you fall on the body image continuum?
No matter where you fall, taking steps up this continuum will lead to …
- Increased self-esteem and self-respect
- More positive attitude
- Compassionate and kind self talk
- More confidence in self
- Less stress and anxiety
- Less comparison of others
- Less shame, guilt or judgment
- Decreased depression and addictive behaviors
The way you see yourself impacts your overall quality of life.
With that said, what is your next step? Is it away from body hatred and towards body neutrality? Or is it slowly away from body neutrality towards body appreciation and body acceptance?
Self and body acceptance is possible. It does not come overnight. It takes patience, practice, curiosity and compassion. And IT IS POSSIBLE (click here for more on self-acceptance).
If you are ready to take your next step up the body image continuum and would like a roadmap to navigate your way. Schedule a complimentary chat with me and I will help get you started.
