Embracing Your Body And Learning To Love Yourself

I’ve mentioned about my body confidence issues in the past but it’s got to a point where I rarely feel good in my clothes and I’m struggling with what to wear. Does anyone else feel like this? Well I’ve decided that it’s time to stop being so harsh on myself!

Life is too short to be worrying about how much I dislike my arms in side profile photos or the thigh gap that I’m forever lusting over. I have developed a love for fashion ever since working at New Look. This interest has actually encouraged me to sign up to Fashion Retail & Enterprise at Newcastle College. Over the Summer, I want to start trying new trends and pieces that I wouldn’t usually go for starting with stripes. I used to avoid stripe clothing like the plague because I taught myself from being a young teenager that it will make me look bigger than my size. This is just one of the steps that I am trying to change and embrace my new found love for myself and my body. Three months ago, I wouldn’t have been able to sit at my computer telling this little corner of the net that I feel slightly more confident and that in itself is a huge step forward.

Personally, I think there are three things that have damaged how I view myself and the love that I have for my body. The first is weight loss groups such as Slimming World and Weight Watchers. I remember going when I was younger with my mum and I used to passively listen whilst playing on my gameboy. It wasn’t until my early teen years that I realised how damaging it actually was. I never wanted to eat bananas because they weren’t a good fruit compared to melon or strawberries and I always used to pick up a Freddo chocolate bar rather than a share bag of buttons when I was with my friends because it was a ‘better’ choice. I urge you too not listen to this! I’m not going to sit here and say anything negative about weight loss groups because it might actually be working for some of you but it definitely doesn’t have that positive impact on me and my mindset.

The other two kind of go hand in hand. I believe the media and society require you to look or feel a certain way. I feel as though if I don’t have the ‘perfect’ body or that I am not the size that the media suggests is healthy then I am not good enough to achieve certain aspects of life whether that be having a baby or being able to fit into a wedding dress and look 10 million dollars. But do you know what I say? F**k them! You be who you want to be because what matters is how you feel in yourself. If you feel good about yourself, don’t stop doing what you are doing. You don’t have to look a certain way, or be a certain dress size to achieve the things that you want to do. If you want to wear those striped trousers for browsing round the shops at the weekend, then wear those god damn trousers! At the end of the day, I know that in a couple of weeks we probably aren’t going to be stressing about how we felt because there is a lot more important things in your life for you to concentrate on. You are an amazing person! Don’t stop being you.

I’d love to know how you deal with body confidence? How do you embrace yourself? Share your tips below!