4 Ways to Improve Your Body Image
4 Ways to Improve Your Body Image
Your body image is about how you see yourself physically, whether that be positively or negatively. Often a poor body image can lead to depression, poor relationships, and even unsuccessful careers. There are ways to improve your body image to lead to a more successful life. These four ways to improve your body image will help you if you implement them.
Practice Words of Affirmation
Every morning look at your reflection in a mirror and practice words of affirmation. This means look into your own eyes and tell yourself that at this very moment you love yourself and everything about you. Tell yourself a few things you love about yourself. Anytime you think something negative, try saying it out loud but include the word, no.
For example, if you start thinking, “I am ugly and worthless,” say it out loud as “I am NOT ugly. I am NOT worthless.” Then tell yourself why. “I am not ugly because I am me, and no one else can have that. I am not worthless because I am a person.” Even if you don’t entirely believe it yet, saying positive things to yourself every day will encourage you to be more positive about your body.
Don’t Listen to Other People
You must accept your body yourself. No one else can give you self-acceptance. No one else needs to justify your acceptance of your body. You may need to avoid social media if that causes issues. You can also not take to heart what they say as truth. Again, you are the only person that can truly accept yourself. If you don’t rely on others, you won’t find yourself disappointed and will be set free.
Find the Right People
While you cannot rely on others for your happiness, this does not mean you don’t want to be social. It just means you shouldn’t expect your friends to make you happy. Your friends should be extra in your already happy life. Make sure the friends and family you are around are positive. If they are always on an unhealthy diet, judging your appearance, or the appearance of others, let them go.
Find better people to hang out with intentionally. Just remember negative people who bring you down are not there for your support, only for their own gain of self-affirmation. Again, they think others should make them happy. Those types of people are only using you. Also, their self-negativity will leak into you feeling negative about yourself too.
Be Healthy
Look into your daily routine to see when and where you can improve your health based on the way you live. Maybe you don’t drink any water and only get four hours of sleep each day. You can change that to do better so that the actions you take the lead to health and not sickness. Bad daily health habits can easily lead to a negative mindset and show on the outside through obesity, acne, and other signs of poor health.
An unhealthy lifestyle can lead to depression and other mental illnesses, which can lead to negativity. Being healthy does not mean you must lose a certain number of pounds or look a certain way. It means eating a well-rounded diet, getting in enough water, fruits, and vegetables, and exercising every day at least 30 minutes. Meditation is also a great healthy practice to help you cut down on anxiety.
Take the time to see where you can change to lead to a healthier body image. It will take time to learn to love and value yourself as is, and that is okay. However, your body image must be healthy so you can have an overall successful life.
