Body Confidence is becoming a popular topic these days.
#SelfLove, #SelfConfidence & #BodyPositivity are three of the biggest hashtags on Instagram.
Thanks to celebrities like Celeste Barber, Lizzo, Pink & Rebel Wilson, a curvy or more ‘real’ body is becoming more & normal every day, thank goodness!
But we’re still flooded with more and more ‘perfect’ Instagram photos of impossibly gorgeous women and it’s easy to feel that we will never look good enough.
Recent Studies show that most people are way more critical of themselves after looking at social media.
• 60% of people using social media reported that it has impacted their self-esteem in a negative way
• 50% reported social media having negative effects on their relationships
• 80% reported that is easier to be deceived by others through their sharing on social media
It’s easy to forget that these Instagram Influencers/Models/Bloggers have full teams of hair and makeup artists working for hours to create the illusion of natural beauty,
every photo is retouched, tweaked, slimmed, stretched. Have you ever seen behind the scenes of a Kardashian ’selfie’?
It’s all an illusion.
There is someone out there for everyone.
It could be your laugh, your smile, the way you make coffee, the way your hair smells, believe me, you are much more lovely than you think.
Even if you’re worried about your partner looking at these ‘perfect’ women ,(if he’s got a phone, he’s looking at them!) they aren’t really comparing us to them in real life.
Just like we don’t expect Chris Hemsworth to wander in and sweep us off our feet!
Most guys realise these impossibly young fit and toned girls are just ‘eye candy’ and would actually prefer a real life,
warm loving woman to a fantasy girl.
I believe that seeing a gorgeous photo of yourself every day has such a positive effect on your self esteem.
I have one client who confessed to taking out her box of portrait photos from our shoot and looking at them to feel better
when she was having a bad day.
My mum, who is 70, still has a sexy boudoir portrait proudly hanging on her bedroom wall from when she was in her forties.
I LOVE that!
My husband keeps a boudoir photo of me on is bedside table. It tells me he thinks of me every day.
As I always say to my daughters, If everyone was the same, life would be pretty boring!
You are here for a reason, no one else can be you.
How can you feel more confident and not care about comparing yourself to others?
Changing that little voice inside your head from criticism to praise is a learned practice.
We naturally look for what is wrong, that’s just how our brains are wired.
Just try one thing, like saying “Hello Gorgeous” to yourself in the mirror in the morning,
instead of criticising how you look, is a good start.
You wouldn’t start criticising a friend as soon as you see them would you?
If you want to take it further, try this exercise:
1. Write down all the bad things you say to yourself for a day.
You’ll be amazed! You would never talk to someone else like that, would you?
2. Then write a list of opposite, encouraging affirmations.
• I’m looking old/ I am taking good care of my skin and my health
• I have to lose weight/ Every day I am felling slimmer and slimmer
• I hate my tummy/ this tummy grew and carried my kids, I am thankful for all it has done for me
• I eat too much/ I am fuelling, energising and thanking my body by rewarding it with healthy nutrition
• I can’t be bothered / I am finding things to do that energise me
• I hate going to the gym/ Exercise is my time out just for me to enjoy my body, I choose an exercise that my body loves
• I look terrible/ I am going to look AMAZING today!
The way we talk to ourselves has a direct impact on our mental and physical health.
Studies have shown that even plants respond to how you speak to them.
Plants that are criticised and ignored tend to wither and die. Plants that are praised and given encouragement grow and thrive.
I never felt beautiful, or like I fitted in, I was always an outsider growing up. That’s the reason why I started studying portraiture,
because the best artworks were never of conventionally beautiful people.
They were of interesting people.
I learned through drawing all different shapes & ages of nude models that everyone’s body has a wonderful story to tell.
Our body does so much for us, we need to learn to love, thank and reward it for just getting us this far.
Just remember that the next time to look in the mirror! M xxx
