The reality is everyone has hard body image days - days we have more negative thoughts and feelings about our body and how we may appear to others. Even people who seem to love, care and respect their bodies most of the time have hard days.  

Working on having a more positive body image is very hard and can take a lot of time and effort. It requires us to dig deep, examine our relationship with our body as far back as we can remember, and explore where our beliefs came from. In addition, it means challenging some of our current thoughts, habits, and behaviors and actively working on changing our mindset. 

We need to take care of and respect our bodies even on days we do not necessarily like them. There are a few things that you can do right now to help yourself get through a tough day:

1. Wear clothes that fit: Put on clothes that fit and feel good on your here-and-now body (in other words, how your body is today and not the body you may want or previously had). If we are wearing clothes that are too tight, it may exacerbate our discomfort and cause us to constantly adjust our clothing or body check even more. 

2. Focus on what makes you YOU: Think about ways that define your self-worth that have nothing to do with your physical appearance. Sometimes this is hard. Try first thinking about someone important or special to you - such as a friend or partner - why do you enjoy spending time with them? What do you love most about them? Likely, you did not name a physical attribute. See if you can list three qualities for yourself. 

3. Turn off social: Change your social media feed or turn it off for a little while. Often, when we scroll, something can be triggering. So either curate your feed very specifically (check out some of the accounts we love) or take a break from it altogether.

4. Turn off that camera, too: Put down your phone and camera! We often take pictures of ourselves (with or without other people) and immediately scrutinize those pictures. So for today, if you take a picture - take a few to capture the memory and then put the phone away. Do not look at them right away and analyze them.    

5. Focus on functionality (versus what your body looks like): Focus on a few things you are grateful your body can do for you right now. It may be your ability to analyze data, the ability to smell and taste food or hear the birds chirping. Think about tasks of daily living or how you use your body to care for others (such as carrying your toddler or hugging your spouse). It may be using your body to plant flowers in your yard or the ability to take a bike ride around the neighborhood

I can't say enough how hard this work is. And not only does it take time and a lot of effort, but it can often feel very uncomfortable at the beginning. But you don't have to do it alone. We are here to support you on your journey. Reach out to us to see how we can work together.