I’ve had body image issues for as long as I can remember. My dad got married when I was 12 and I remember looking at the pictures when they came in and thinking I looked fat in my
My body image has been deeply distorted by both the people around me and the culture we live in. Most of the women in my life, both family and friends, talk about weight constantly. We chat about gaining weight, losing it, hating it, and how the weight makes
Before the
Like many of us, I put on a few pounds while stuck at home this year. The thing is, I know I’m healthier than I ever have been before. I eat healthy meals and exercise more than I have in years. The only thing left for me to change was my attitude about myself. There were no longer a million things to do to distract me from my own body image.
I looked in the mirror one day and all I saw was the extra weight. None of my
It was time to confront the problem, but not with a drastic new diet or an intense workout regimen. I needed a serious attitude adjustment and a lifestyle change to make me feel happy and at home in my own skin.
I started waking up a little bit earlier every day. With that extra time, I developed a morning routine geared entirely towards self-care. It starts with a long walk in the woods with my
I also started using some of the extra time that quarantine provided to go through my
With these little changes to my life and lifestyle, my attitude started to change. Instead of focusing on all the things I hated about my body when I looked in the mirror, I started trying to pick out three things I love about my body.
There isn’t a magical fix for a lifetime’s worth of negative body image. There are days when I still hate my body and wear baggy