One of the biggest questions asked of me over the past weeks is where do I get my confidence and what are my tips to becoming confident. I'm going to try my best to answer that question and I hope everyone who emailed Project Be Body Aware will find some useful tips in this article. Let's just be honest, no-one is expected to be 100% confident all of the time, I am certainly not, but following the steps to healthy body image will help boost your confidence.
1. Access what it is that is making you feel bad about your body
It's no secret that for years I tried to alter the way I looked. I wanted to be skinnier. Those magazine covers just sucked me in every time. The first thing I would do as I walked into a shop would be to glance over at the magazines on the shelf. Now that's ok if you love fashion, but it's not ok if you are glancing over and then comparing the magazine cover to your own body.
2. Train yourself and change your behaviour
I literally had to train myself to walk into a shop and stop looking at magazine covers. It's all about our behaviours and once you notice those behaviours and become aware of them you are taking the first steps to body awareness. If you change your pattern of behaviour around your bad body image your mindset will begin to change.
3. Awareness around social media
Do yourself a favour and ask which apps on social media make you feel crap about your body? Are you following accounts and watching the bodies of other people and aspiring to look like them? If so stop it now. Stop with the #Bodygoals and replace it with #Myownbody goals.
4. Do not avoid the topic of body image
The focus of Be Body Aware is to bring about that conversation around body image even if it makes you uncomfortable. You only have one body and your body image effects your self esteem and your self esteem will go on to determine your relationships, friendships and even your career. Body image isn't some buzz media word, it's something we all have and it lives with us forever. I can not speak for everyone, but my own awakening to my body and awareness encouraged my own confidence.
5. Perfection is an illusion
If you don't know perfection is an illusion by now I have attached some images of myself with and without photo editing to show you how something as simple as a selfie can be very misleading and basically false. I take pride in demonstrating that models in magazines, just like everyone else, have their own body insecurities. You can be a Victoria's Secret model and still be miserable. Happiness is in inside job. Focusing on the way you appear on the outside will actually make you unhappier as opposed to happy.
