Written by: Dr. Charlotte Markey
Being body positive is hard, but there are things we all can do to make it easier.
I’ve been studying body image for over 25 years, and I can offer a lot of advice about ways to improve your body image. It’s important to first acknowledge that feeling positively about our bodies is not easy for most of us. This is not our fault; there are many social forces working against us. We all see images of beautiful, perfect people every single day on social media, advertisements, and elsewhere on the internet. These models, celebrities, and influencers make it seem like looking a certain way is the key to happiness. In reality, life is far more complicated. In fact, being body positive does not necessarily mean loving how we look all the time. It has a lot more to do with appreciating who we are and what we have to offer the world.
Here are some small things you can do every day to contribute to a body positive culture for yourself and others.
- Don’t comment only on people’s appearance.
When we keep our comments focused on our appearance, we leave out conversations about more important things in our lives. Challenge yourself to ask people about their hobbies, interests, and what they are doing, without focusing so much on how people are looking.
- Don’t congratulate weight loss.
Be careful not to assume that weight loss is always good! Often times weight loss is a sign of a health problem or a disordered relationship with food. We can push back against all of the cultural messages surrounding diet products and plans by taking care not to celebrate our own or others’ weight loss. After all, our body size is not the most important thing about us!
- Curate your social media.
One of the things we all like about social media is that it is interactive, and we can help to curate our newsfeeds by liking and following certain people and topics. We can help to make mental health-focused and body positive social media popular by choosing to engage with it and leaving appearance-focused media behind.
- Enjoy food.
We all need to nourish our bodies, but we should not try to adhere to trendy diets that keep us from enjoying food. It is important to develop eating habits that we can sustain over time and are good for both our physical and mental health. Eating is a form of self-care.
- Develop other interests.
It may seem like your appearance is a “project” that requires a lot of time and energy. But it doesn’t have to. What if you invested more of that energy into other hobbies, interests, and even volunteer work?
Thinking about issues that are more important than how you look and being engaged with issues that are meaningful to you, can help you develop as a well-rounded, confident person. By choosing to foster your positive body image you set an example for those around you and help to lead your society closer to understanding how important it is for all of us to be accepting and positive about who we are.
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This article was adapted from The Body Image Book for Girls: Love Yourself and Grow Up Fearless by Dr. Charlotte Markey. For more information, go to the book’s webpage: www.TheBodyImageBookforGirls.com