The Joy of Learning How to Feel Positive About Your Body

How to Feel Positive About Your Body

Learning how to feel positive about your body is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself during your lifetime. Not only will you feel better about your appearance daily, but you’ll also exude a higher level of self-confidence. And that self-confidence is bound to be noticed by others who will, in turn, start to feel better about their own bodies too.

Of course, learning how to feel positive about your body is no easy task for most people.

We’re all raised with conflicting images of what the ideal body is—and what it’s not. And oftentimes, we simply don’t fit the mold. In our minds, we’re either too fat or too skinny, too tall or too short, too muscular or too scrawny, too hairy or not hairy enough, and the list goes on and on.

Will all of the perfect, filtered images of others we see on a daily basis and the comments other people make right in front of us, it sometimes feels impossible to love ourselves just the way we are. And then we fall into the dangerous trap of thinking we’ll get around to loving our bodies eventually. You know, once we reach this imaginary ideal state that’s far off into the future.

A shocking 83% of women and 74% of men report being dissatisfied with their bodies. So, it’s no wonder that 30 million Americans have an eating disorder at any given time. Nor is it a surprise that roughly 4 million Americans get cosmetic surgery yearly and another 4 million Americans use anabolic steroids to bulk up.

So, what can be done to help you learn how to feel positive about your body once and for all?

There are 10 steps you can take in order to learn how to feel positive about your body starting today:

1. Decide to Feel Positive About Your Body

If you’re looking for ways to be body positive, because it’s not coming to you naturally, you have to make the choice to feel positive about your body moving forward and stick to it. Set body positivity as your personal goal, and do the work necessary in order to make that happen.

2. Focus on the Ways Your Body Serves You

It’s far too easy to get sidetracked by your looks. When you really want to be body positive, it helps to shift your focus to all of the ways your body serves you instead of simply focusing on what it looks like on the outside. Your body does incredible things for you. Appreciate it.

3. Change Your Body Image Habits

Whether you recognize them or not, you already have several body image habits that affect the way you see yourself. By changing habits one at a time, like smiling at yourself every time you look in a mirror or saying out loud that you look good every time you get dressed or undressed, you can take negative body image habits and change them into healthy ones.

4. Commit to Being Healthy, Not Perfect

Speaking of healthy, today is the day you commit to being healthy, not perfect. You will never reach this idea body you’ve built up in your mind. It’s just not possible. So, focus on being the healthiest version of yourself, and you’ll experience more body positivity in no time.

5. Stop Making Comparisons

There’s a reason “comparison is the thief of joy” is such a popular quote. Because it is. If you compare the worst version of yourself to the best version of everyone else, you will always end up losing. Instead, compare yourself to no one. Focus on improving yourself a little each day and loving yourself a whole lot more in the process.

6. Remove Temptations

Learning how to feel positive about your body is not something you will master overnight. It takes time and effort to implement these ways to be body positive into your daily life. So, in the meantime, remove any temptation that will drag you back into your old habits. If you worry about your weight constantly, get rid of your scale. And if you find yourself too focused on what you look like at any given moment, donate any extra mirrors you have hanging around your house.

7. Alter Your Inner Dialogue

You are, by far, your harshest critic. And it’s pretty likely that you say some not-so-nice things to yourself through inner dialogue. The only way to change this is to recognize when it’s happening and counteract these intrusive thoughts by saying nice things to yourself instead. If you don’t know how to, think about what you would say to someone else then repeat it about yourself.

8. Declutter Your Media

You get bombarded by all of these perfectly filtered images and videos all day long, and that will wreak havoc on your self-esteem if you let it. Decluttering your media by avoiding any advertisements or social media accounts that consistently leave you feeling down, you can start seeing more images and videos of people just like you who don’t walk around with a ring camera and a phone full of filters every day.

9. Share Your Experiences With Others

If you struggle to maintain a positive body image, you are certainly not alone in that experience. So, share your own struggles openly and honestly with people you trust, so that you can help each other heal from poor body image and start seeing yourself in the positive light everyone else sees you in.

10. Surround Yourself With Like-Minded People

Both negativity and positivity are highly contagious. If you surround yourself with people who always put themselves down, you will too. On the other hand, if you choose to socialize more with people who love and accept their bodies, you will too.

By taking these 10 body positivity steps seriously and putting some real effort into making them happen, you can completely change how you think about your looks and train your mind on how to feel positive about your body for the rest of your life.

Ways to Be Body Positive

Once you understand the whole process of how to feel positive about your body, there are ways to be body positive in both thought and action throughout your typical day. In fact, you may just be surprised by how easy it is to make some little adjustments over time that collectively result in making a big impact.

If you’re looking for ways to be body positive more often, all you have to do is set an intention and get started. There are no right or wrong ways to be body positive—as long as you’re actually positive about your body, of course. And that includes every part of your body, from your height, weight, shape, skin color, complexion, and hair.

Here are 20 ways to be body positive starting now:

1. Eat healthy
2. Stay hydrated
3. Get active
4. Exercise regularly
5. Stretch daily
6. Meditate
7. Prioritize rest and relaxation
8. Maintain a consistent sleep schedule
9. Take supplements
10. Create a personalized self-care routine
11. Remove excess hair
12. Get a fresh haircut
13. Treat yourself to a mani and pedi
14. Get a massage
15. Purchase clothes that fit your body type
16. Buy comfortable shoes that you feel good in
17. Speak kindly to yourself
18. Allow yourself to receive compliments from others
19. Schedule regular dental cleanings
20. Seek out care from qualified physical and mental health professionals

While this list offers a good start toward being more body positive overall, your options really are endless. Based on your own unique needs, there are plenty of ways to be body positive that specifically target your previous insecurities.

For example, if you have always been self-conscious about how others see you when you step out the door, make a point of looking people right in the eye and giving them your best smile. When you make this a habit, you’ll feel happier and more confident with every smile you have returned to you, and you’ll eventually stop worrying about what it is that people are actually looking at because you’ll know they’re focusing on your beautiful face and radiant demeanor.

We make life a whole lot harder than it has to be most of the time. We get one body in this life. Treat yours well and love it just the way it is right now.

Sources

• Inverse: Bodybuilding Researchers Uncover a Baffing Paradox In Men Who Use Steroids
• Ipsos: Most Americans Experience Feeling Dissatisfied with How Their Body Looks from Time to Time, Including Nearly Two in Five Who Feel This Way Whenever They Look in the Mirror
• Statista: Cosmetic Surgery—Statistics & Facts
• The National Eating Disorders Association: Statistics & Research On Eating Disorders

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What can you do starting today to learn how to feel positive about your body?