6 Ways to Improve Your Body Confidence

Contrary to what we are exposed to on social media, body confidence is more than just being bold enough to take a picture of yourself wearing a bikini. It is the total acceptance of oneself, flaws and all, and the audacity to wear clothes that feel good on our bodies regardless of what society dictates.

Now you might ask yourself the question:

 

Do I have body confidence?

If you want to know how you truly feel about your body, try this little test. Write down 10 words that describe your body on a piece of paper. After that, take a look at it and ask yourself these questions. 

Have you used mostly positive or negative words? Have you focused on how your body looks or what it can achieve? Have you focused on the outside or the inside? This simple tool can help you to explore your feelings around your body. If you think it’s a problem, now is the time to fix that.

Firstly, you need to remember that you won’t change how you feel about your body overnight. It will take a lot of time and effort to change how you feel about your body. However, it is possible if you put your mind to it, and the sooner you get started, the sooner you will reap the rewards.

Here are 6 ways to improve your body confidence:

 

Sort out your social media feeds

Right now, go check out your socials and every time you see a post that makes you feel bad about your body, hit that unfollow button. If it’s someone you know in real life and feels like they don’t deserve to be unfollowed then hide their posts instead. Getting rid of body negativity is the first step towards becoming more confident about your body. There are many amazing campaigners that use their ‘fame’ to promote body positivity. Seek these influencers out and give them a follow. Seeing their posts will serve as a daily reminder to accept your self-image.

 

Focus on what your body does

We tend to focus more on what our body looks like instead of what it actually does. For example, a person can be 100% healthy but that little bit of belly fat can change their whole perception of themselves in an instant. When we exercise, we shouldn’t think about how many calories we are burning, instead, celebrate how hard our bodies worked and what it has achieved during our workout.

Stop listing the things your body can’t do, and think about the things it can. After a few weeks of doing this, you may find a newfound respect for your body.

 

Find out who you are

You are not just skin, blood and bones. You are a person with a heart, feelings and amazing qualities. Grab a pen and paper and write a list of things you are. Are you a sister? Friend?  Wife? a caring mother? a mathematician? Do you make people laugh? Write a list of 10 things you love about yourself and stick it up on your mirror, or on your cupboard, any place that you look at every day. The more you read this list of things to like, the more positive you’ll feel towards yourself.

Take care of your body

Stop mistreating your body or forgetting about it altogether. Treat it like it’s one of your best friends. Don’t say anything bad about it. You wouldn’t say bad things to your friend,  would you? Compliment it when it looks good and even when it doesn’t. Take it for a spa day, treat it to a massage, or simply run it a nice, warm bubble bath at the end of a hard day. Start being kind to yourself each and every day.

 

Dress to impress

It’s very easy to hide a body you don’t love in rags or just sit in pajamas the whole day. Stop that mentality right now, throw your wardrobe doors open and pick out your most colorful, sexiest items of clothing. 

Your body is beautiful, and it deserves to wear clothes that make you look like a million dollars. Your body deserves to shimmer, glitter and light up every room you enter. Did you know that the way you dress impacts your general mood? For example, if you dress confidently, you may just find that you feel more confident. Wear bright colors, less coverage, tight clothing and loud prints, whatever makes you smile when you see your reflection in the mirror.

 

And last but not least...

Strike a pose!! 

Get in front of that camera and just smile and have fun, Get in the group shots on nights out. Make sure that you are in all the family photos, because someday in the future, when you are old and grey, you will look back at them and remember how young and healthy your body once was. You won’t regret being in those photographs, but you might regret not being.

Full acceptance of your body begins with your mindset. Start with small things such as speaking kindly to yourself, buying quality skincare products, taking pictures for yourself. Gradually you will notice a shift in the way you perceive yourself. As a whole we cannot change what society dictates but we can change the way we portray ourselves, loving our bodies as it is now instead of constantly aspiring to attain a “better” body. In doing so, we will inspire others to accept their bodies with confidence too.

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