Building Healthy Body Positivity

I’m feeling a little anxious sharing this on my blog but I know if someone had shared this last year, it would’ve helped me immensely. SO… here goes. This is my story on how I am building healthy body positivity.

You see, lately, I’ve been struggling with my body image. This has been hard because I had two babies within two years and went through fertility treatments for the last 3 years.

I felt like my body had betrayed me for a long time. The medications I was taking and the back-to-back pregnancies had changed my body drastically. I was in a dark place with my body image and looked at myself and felt like I should be bouncing back better. I was eating healthy and active, but I still had that dreaded mom pouch that so many of us complain about. There were more stretch marks than I did with my first baby. My breasts were foreign to me from nursing and pumping. I thought a boudoir session for positive body image wouldn’t work for me. But I was so wrong!

I was a boudoir photographer who had no problem hyping up every single woman who came in my studio. My photographer self was able to genuinely see their inner and outer beauty. However, here I was having such a hard time for myself.

I was all about building healthy body positivity for others but why not myself? Having the ability to get every single pose to accentuate my client’s curves but couldn’t love my own was rough.

When I finally took the time to look inward to myself and really love myself to a point where I wanted to really see myself for how I felt. I went to Texas and visited my boudoir bestie and had my own boudoir session. Having a boudoir session was so empowering for me because I was able to see in real life how badass I am! After that, you couldn’t tell me shit. I walked on cloud 9 when I was finished. I got a big wall art to put on my inside closet door to remind myself. Whenever I want to put something on I look at that photo. I say to myself “Girl that is you!” Wear what you want!

So what did I do to get my own self-confidence back? Here are a  few things I did to increase my positive body image for myself. I hope these tips help you!

1. I stopped avoiding compliments.
   • We all do it! Someone says “OMG babe you look amazing!” And you say “Oh no stop I don’t look at my (insert negative body image comment here)” Let me tell you something I had to learn the hard way. My mom said to me “Oh shut up and just take the compliment” When someone is complimenting you whether you believe them or not at the time, force yourself to say thank you. It will feel foreign at first but once you get into that habit you will start to believe it yourself. 
2. I started writing down things about myself that I liked (even if it was one thing) and I put it on a sticky note on every mirror. 
   1. For me it was “You have pretty eyes” I wrote it down and stuck it to any surface that I could see and I said it out loud whenever I read it. It helped me especially on the days I couldn’t find anything I liked about myself 
3. Last but not least…I started to do something for myself at least once a week. It doesn’t have to be big. But taking 20 minutes to meditate or read a book. Do a face mask. Some sort of self-care each week I made sure to make time for and that was a turning point. As a business owner and a mom it’s hard to make time for yourself without feeling selfish but let’s say it together “SELF CARE IS NOT SELFISH!!”  You know how when you’re on an airplane and they say to put your oxygen mask on first before helping others? This is exactly what they mean but in life. You can’t be your best self for anyone until you make time for yourself to become that person. 

But here’s the thing… I know that a positive body image is extremely difficult to have every single day. It is not going to happen and I don’t want you to force yourself to try to be thrilled about every single part of your body. But making small strides towards a positive body image not only benefits you but shows those around you how important it is to have a positive self-image. 

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