Body Positive Challenge

A body positive challenge, you say?

Don’t worry.  This is nothing official.  It is just my way of attempting to make a small mark in this big internet world.  It is my way to encourage you to start (or keep) being NICE to your body and yourself.  And while we’re all at it, lets encourage all of the ones we love to be nice to themselves, too!

Over the month of August (and then forever after that), I am challenging myself (and you) to really think about the things we say to ourselves.  Do you often have an internal dialog that is always pointing out the “negatives?”  Do you talk badly about yourself in conversation with others?  Yeah, me too.

Why in the world do we do this?

We should need to be nicer to ourselves.  In turn, I’d bet we would all be a lot happier and more caring towards others.

Don’t get me wrong.  Being nice to that inner negative self talker is by no means easy.  To be honest, it is ridiculously hard.  Most of the time we don’t even realize what is happening when we call ourselves fat, wish we didn’t have cellulite, or think we look ugly when zits start popping up.  It has become second nature in our society to judge and compare ourselves instead of praise ourselves.

Unfortunately, the majority of us can’t just flip a switch and suddenly start praising ourselves.  This process takes a lot of effort.  That is exactly why I am referring to this as a challenge.  Start with each minute, hour, and day at a time.  Eventually we can train ourselves to think negatively less often and positively more often.  After all, we were trained (by society) to notice the negatives.  Why can’t we instead spend our time noticing the positives?

The next time you look in the mirror and think…

…I’m fat,
…I hate my cellulite,
…my acne makes me look ugly,
…I wish I looked like _______,
…I’m not _______ (pretty, skinny, etc.) enough,
…so-and-so is _______ (prettier, skinnier, etc.) than me…

stop, backtrack, and say something out loud about yourself that is positive.

Pick something that resonates with you.  Whether it be:

I love myself.
I look great in these jeans.
I love my _______ (favorite body part/feature).
I am happy with where my body is at right now.
My body is capable of amazing things.
My _______ (significant other, friends, family, etc.) love me because _______ (I can almost guarantee it is not because of the way you look!).
My body is freakin’ awesome because _______.

We should also challenge ourselves to stop the negative self-talk that happens around us.

When our friends or family members use negative self-talk or compare themselves to others, let’s quickly turn the conversation around.  Instead of agreeing and self-loathing together, let’s bring up all of the positive things that we love about that particular person.  How about we talk about the things that make us happy, not the things that make us feel defeated.

Finally, let’s get the negative self-talk OFF of social media!  I swear, that shit spreads like a wildfire.  DO NOT post negative things, compare yourself to others, or talk about the ways you need to be/do things better.  Social media outlets are extremely influential platforms.  Let’s do something positive with them.

I have not mastered the art of being more positive about the way I feel towards my body, but I am working on it.

That is the beauty of this challenge.  We are in it together!