Accept and love your BODY: tricky but possible!

When did you stop to love your body?

One of the main reasons of a lack of self-confidence is the non-acceptance of your own body.

This scourge generally affects you during teenage years, and then it unfortunately can last during your adulthood... and beyond...

In fact, when you enter teenage years, you're not a child anymore and this notion of "beauty standard" starts to make sense for you: they are everywere! In your favorite TV series, in all kinds of commercials, on social networks, on magazine covers... And it becomes practically impossible to ignore it.

-Plus,when you become a teenager, your body starts to change.

-Plus, this is generally at this period of our life that we start to really care about what people may think or say about us, and therefore about our physical appearance, our body. We are then very vulnerable, because it turns out that some people (a lot of people!) are very rude at this age.

All those changes may lead to a loss of self-confidence.

But the great part is that you CAN, at any time, get your self-confidence back, you CAN get reconciled with your body!

Yes, trust me it's possible, whoever you are .

When I say "reconciled with your body", I mean that you will love and accept your body AS IT IS, without going trough any strict diet or surgery... and that's a big advantage, don't you think? :)

        

So here are some "tested and approved" tips to , firstly accept, and then love your body :


- Stand in front of a mirror, look at yourself, look at your body and take your time, to really see who you are, and not who you're not.
I mean, just focus on your body, how it looks, each part , from your feet to your head, focus on what you see and not on what you don't.
For example take time to appreciate the beautiful breast you've got instead of focusing on the abs you haven't.

 As Shailene Woodley once said " you should really, fully see yourself for you".
 Alright you're not that, nor that , nor that,... and that's okay, you are you! 
There is 7 billion people you're not, 7 billion bodies that don't look like yours , and you actually don't need that! You don't need your body to look like another one! Why would you need something like that?

-Be your own beauty standard, create your own beauty.
 Did you know that Kate Moss was the only model to have a flat chest when beauty standards were all saying " BIG BREAST IS BETTER", and now so many people find her gorgeous, and oh-so-many long for having the same body! 
Same for Jennifer Lawrence who was told she was way too fat for Hollywood although she's fabulous...
These women have created their own beauty standards. 

Imagine if Kate Moss focused on the big breast she couldn't see in that mirror, and finally decided to undergo a plastic surgery... 
And what if Jennifer Lawrence were looking for her rib bones or her thight gap in that mirror instead of appreciate her gorgeous curves? Probably would she have started one of these strict Hollywood diets , and the world would have never seen her incredibly beautiful figure...

So look in that mirror like someone who came here to see how gorgeous his body is and not how well it fits society's beauty standards.

- make AS IF you were a society beauty standard !
How to " make as if"?
Imagine models who have exactly the same body as you on magazine covers... 
Or, even better, imagine YOURSELF on these magazine covers!
Imagine commercials where women want to get a body like yours,or advertising posters in subway with you in a bikini on it, and where we could read "get the perfect summer body"! Imagine whatever helps you feeling good, and feeling confident, feeling like a "beauty role model".

[All this is actually how beauty standards are made and sustained... this is how the "beauty propaganda" works, and it could work with any body, with any type of beauty, with any one ... With you, with YOUR BODY!
 Yes, why would what commercials call "the perfect body" be worthier than your own body?
The difference is just that society decided to " put under the spotlight" one figure and not another ,  perhaps not yours, although all figures deserve to be highlighted, honestly ...]

Imagining, making AS IF, it all does work! 
Some people would have to do it more often than others, for some of them it would take more time, but if you do it, let's say every day during a week , you will already see the difference!
What I'm saying is that you just have to try.
 Even if when you start you don't believe in what you try to imagine, just imagine it, just try to say it to yourself ["yes everyone wants my body..!!."], and one day it will all make sense, and one day you'll convince yourself.

You have to try if you want to..feel something, you have to try if you want it to work. If you want a result you always have to try.

 And moreover I'm sure you'll do it very well.

-An other "tip" is addressed to those who follow twitter or Instagram accounts like "post bad body", "perfect body"... : why? just STOP (please :p) !

 If you follow these accounts that means you consider that their posts reflect what your "perfect/dream body" is supposed to be, and if you don't like your body that means it doesn't look like these posts, right?

So why the heck do you need to see these posts? 

 Your "perfect/dream body" should be your own body, 'cause YOU ARE YOUR OWN BEAUTY STANDARD .Did you forget?

Those posts do nothing but remind you of who you're not. 

This is actually one of the main reasons why the "tip n°1" could seem quite difficult to apply for you: these pictures make you focus on what you're not instead of what you are, as every time you see one of these pics you think about your own body and you try to compare... admit it!

You wonder how far your body is from the one you see on the picture, how it would look if you take the same pic, etc. you don't  look at these pictures without comparing yourself ...

 So please, for your own sake, UNFOLLOW these accounts!

 And also STOP comparing yourself to the others, it's really important ,  you are who you are, you are unique and beautiful in your own way.

Moreover you could fill your TL or your IG with some good and inspiring quotes, which could not only improve your mood but also increase your self-confidence! :D

-And finally, do you remember we were talking about people who were extremely rude and judgmental on your physic appearance? (yes, at the very beggining or this post!)
My last tip would be: don't act like that!
Thus you'd do a big favor to yourself, and to your entourage! ;)

In fact, by being nice an tolerant with anybody, no matter how they look, no matter their body, you prove to others, but especially to yourself  that you don't base everything on physical appearance, and that for you this is not what makes someone's value!
 And knowing that, your body would just "relax" , like "come on that's not what it's all about! Beauty and all that's just a """plus""" in life!" (yeah this is your body speaking) , and thus you will worry less about how your body looks at each second of your life... 
You will just be able to say to yourself that anyway you know you're always gorgeous and you don't have to worry no more .... That will really reinforce your self-confidence, and make you love your body, at any time, in any circumstances.

Plus, you'll be a better person to meet. :)

~

So I hope these tips will help you somehow, and that one day you'll finally love and accept your body the way it is. 

Iknow how hard it could be sometimes to face your reflection in the mirror, to face peer pressure, to face those society beauty standards...But one day you'll realize how beautiful and amazing you are, just keep hoping and believing, although it might be hard sometimes.

But keep in mind that one day you'll get what you want, you actually already got what you want, self-confidence, self-esteem, you got it in you , it's not dead , somehow you already know you are beautiful, you have a beautiful body, there's a tiny part of you who knows it, even if you think there isn't, even if you think you definitely lost hope, even if you think your self-confidence will never come to you, you got it, you just haven't realized it yet ;)