Finally Embrace Your Body & Silence Societal Pressures
Society’s epitome of the perfect female body has changed drastically since the beginning of times. We have seen hundreds of silhouettes from Twiggy, Marilyn Monroe and Lizzo. All beautiful women, all very different bodies. However, societal expectations and standards of beauty still continue to have negative impacts on women’s perspectives of beauty, body image and self-worth. In fact, body image has been a hot topic of discussion since 1935 when it was coined by psychologist and medical researcher Paul Schilder.
Especially with modern day social media and influencers, it is hard to be a woman and filter through all these opinions about body image and know what you should do with your body and how it should look. These unrealistic beauty standards can not only lead to poor body image and self-worth, but can have more severe consequences such as disordered eating, mental health issues such as depression and anxiety and other physical health problems.
Self-love—and specifically body love—can be difficult, so today we will discuss some tips to help improve your body image, appreciate your body, and silence the opinions of society. Remember, your experience is valid and you are not alone; LunaJoy helps women struggling with body image and mental health every day.
Before you begin, remember that our professionals are always here to help
Everybody & Every Body
As cliché as it sounds, it is true that every body is beautiful and something to be cherished. A woman’s body can give birth to new life, it can experience love, it can do and feel amazing things. Sometimes, we just need a reminder of that. If you struggle with body image, here are some tips to help you silence society’s pressures regarding bodies and perfection.
Practice Mindfulness
Self-Compassion
Do Not Compare
Find Your Crowd
Filter Your Media
Mindfulness is the concept of being present and aware, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by things we do not have control over. Many factors influence weight, body build and mental health. You can be at your fittest, strongest and healthiest weight and not look like the hundreds of models on your Instagram feed and that is OK. Understanding and accepting this concept and realizing what you have control over vs. what you don’t can be key to practicing mindfulness and letting go of negativity, embracing yourself and what you can do for your own health and wellbeing.
Self-compassion is also very important to embracing your body and increasing your acceptance. A technique I personally like to use to stop my negative self-talk in its track is take a pause and ask myself: “If a friend came to me saying this, what would I say to them?” because most of the time, you would show much more compassion to a friend in need than yourself. Use this trick to practice improving yourself self-compassion.
Do not compare yourself to others. This is such an important mantra to take with you on your journey of embracing your body image and silencing societal standards: Comparison is the thief of joy. People always want what they can’t or don’t have. By comparing your body or situation or anything to others, you are doing yourself a disservice. This mantra helps many people understand and celebrate their victories and differences and feel happy for others instead of envious.
FIlter your media. Social media can be a toxic and draining place just as much as it can be a supportive and happy place. If you find yourself comparing yourself to people on your feed, feeling sad, experiencing negative body image because of things you see or hear on the internet, change your crowd. By following influencers who promote body positivity, advocacy, dressing to emphasize your figure and other major issues related to body image, you will have a more accurate and relatable example of body image.
Silence Society and Social Media
People of all ages, those who are underweight, those who are overweight and everyone in between feel the pressure of having the perfect body. And while body image is a universal issue, it disproportionally affects women. In fact, researchers suggest that women’s satisfaction with body image may be a major contributing factor to why depression affects more women than men.
Social media has made a significant impact on the distribution of information and content which can be a very good thing but also a bad thing. It is important to remember that social media is a highlight reel, not reality. It’s hard to ignore the issue of body image when all of our social media feeds, news feeds and content pieces all tend to feature unrealistic expectations of body shape and size. Embracing your body image is not a linear or easy journey sometimes, so if you find yourself wanting extra support and help navigating this, reach out today.
