How To Find Peace With Your Body
Women in general struggle with body acceptance. Finding peace with your body is a major part of becoming an overall happy person. I’ve found myself looking in the mirror, getting ready for bikini season, and not being happy with what I see looking back at me. After talking to some close friends and reading interesting articles, I have learned that 97% of all women have an “I hate my body” moment EVERY SINGLE DAY. What is this life, ladies?
This week’s questions are all about:finding peace with your bodyhayleysamanthaaylott.wordpress.com
hayleysamanthaaylott.wordpress.com
Finding peace with your body – how to achieve it, keep it, and empower other women to do the same. Maybe it’s because bikini season is right around the corner, or fitness videos appear all over my social media feeds, but I haven’t had the most confidence lately, especially pertaining to the way my body is made physically. I look in the mirror every morning to criticize just about everything that I can’t change, and apparently I’m not alone in this. Society puts a lot of pressure on women specifically to be stick thin, fit, and perfectly manicured. I myself, frankly, can’t take the body pressure anymore. Ladies, let’s partner together and empower each other instead of comparing, shaming, and imagining our bodies a different way.
hellogiggles.com
Q: Why do we as a society measure our self worth on likes on a picture?
I see these girls posting on Instagram and getting hundreds of likes on their pictures. When I post a picture similar to that I don’t even get half the likes they do. I hate that I feel so awful if I don’t get triple-digit likes on my posts.
runliftyoga.com
A: How we value ourselves and how we value others has dramatically increased with the technological innovation of social media, and it’s flourishing more every year. We are more likely to delete a tweet, post, or picture if it doesn’t get an “acceptable” amount of likes. I think it takes a lot of empowering ourselves and one another to forget about the likes and favorites. If we look good in a picture, then heck yeah let’s post it! Forget about the social stigma that more likes equals more beauty. And when we see a fellow woman posting a body empowering picture, let them know they’re beautiful. So much can come from a simple gesture, even if it’s a “hey, you look nice today!”
redfairyproject.com
Q: What is your advice to women who don’t exactly match what most guys are attracted to?
It feels like all that guys are looking for in a girlfriend is a tan, size two female with long hair. I don’t even feel like I can measure up to the standards that are set by these women!
lovethispic.com
A: Girl, the guy that’s perfect for you will LOVE you no matter what – flaws included! Whether or not you believe it, you deserve so much love. One of my favorite quotes I’ve ever read states, “you will not always be the smartest person in the room, and you will not always be the strongest or the funniest or the most talented. But you can always be brave and you can always be kind, and these are the things you should be every minute of every day for the rest of your life. Because yes, those other things, they’re great things. But these things are better.” So it basically just reminds me that beauty is not everything. Focus on the person you want to become on the inside and the person that’s meant to be in your life won’t even care about outward appearance.
Some things to remember when you’re not loving what you see
Everyone has those days where they’re not appreciating what they see.
What I love to do when I’m not feeling the greatest is look up inspiring quotes on Pinterest. Surprisingly they help me feel like I have a little bit of confidence back.
likesuccess.com
Create a motivation/quote board.
Make sure to place it somewhere you see everyday, just to make sure you remind yourself of what you want to work towards, as well as having positive vibes around.
time.com
Don’t do crazy dieting.
I understand eating healthy and watching what you eat, but I have watched far too many beautiful people give up meals to “lose weight.” All that’s doing is deteriorating your muscle tissue and making your body lose protein and energy.
xaxor.com
Stop comparing yourself to other women.
No matter how much you compare, you will never look exactly like someone else, and that’s okay, you weren’t made to! Accept your flaws, embrace, and love them.
faze.ca
Don’t Instagram stalk.
If you find yourself girl-stalking on Insta (scrolling through someone’s entire Insta history just to find yourself with no confidence) then do yourself a favor and unfollow that girl. It will not only clean up your selfie-filled feed, but give you a better understanding of how not to compare yourself.
quotesgram.com
Make an agreement with yourself to find peace with your body.
Whenever you think something negative, remind yourself that YOU ARE SO, SO BEAUTIFUL. Please never forget that.
theskinnymirrors.com
So ladies, take a step back for once and appreciate your body. You’re a healthy and beautiful woman, even if you don’t see it all the time. Stick to friends who empower you and other women, because at the end of the day, that is all that really matters. Find that one thing that really makes you happy, whether it be running, painting, or singing. Focus on becoming a better person inside, and you will find peace with your body on the outside. You got this.
Featured image source: tumbnation.com/tumblr-tag/yogance
Andrea is a freshman at Eastern Mennonite University where she is a dual major in Business Administration and Photography. Her hobbies include making music, running her photography business, laughing, and eating ice cream. She absolutely loves anything that has to do with coffee and blogging and is looking forward to her future articles on srTrends.