Here’s a statement I really want you to consider.
Hating your body will never get you as far as loving it will.
We are surrounded by messages of “not thin enough!!!!” and “too thin!!!!” – the line between which seems increasingly thin itself if the women’s weekly magazine market is anything to go by.
This media soup we swim in of body image transmission is a tricky sea to navigate.
It encourages a continual mental dialogue of comparisonitus.
It’s pretty much totally unhelpful, because we are always going to come off worst on something when we are comparing ourselves to a myriad of images of people 20 years younger who have access to a full time personal chef and personal trainer, and who have also been liberally photoshopped.
We can’t compete. Obviously! WE KNOW THAT. Right?
Like I know you know that. I know you know you can’t compete with a photoshopped image of Jessica Alba in a bikini.
I know that. You know that.
Logically we are all totally on the same page there.
And yet? And yet, in our heads we do.
The restless whispers of “not enough”.
Not thin enough
Not toned enough
Not eating well enough
Not exercising enough
Not stylish enough
Not dewy and fresh enough
God, it goes on and on.
This creates a poisonous mental dialogue – I know we don’t say this stuff out loud – but believe me we are saying it silently in our minds.
Well…that’s okay, right? No one can hear that?
Actually yes – someone IS listening to that stream of destructive Smack Talk in our heads.
We are.
Our body is listening, and hearing every pejorative word we think.
And it does exactly what we would do if we had, say, a personal trainer who attempted to motivate us by shouting the following at us repeatedly:
“You are SO FAT. Why are you even bothering? Nothing you do makes a DIFFERENCE. You are old. Looking really old today actually. And your ass looks massive…repeat to fade…”.
Now – would that make you WANT to go work out?
Exactly.
What do you expect from a personal trainer?
“Attaagirl. You are doing so well. You’ve gotta start somewhere baby, you are doing GREAT!”
Would that make you want to go work out?
Exactly!
Think of it another way. Would you talk to your beloved pet, or treasured child in the way you talk to your body?
“Fido/Bella, I hate you. You are ugly. And fat. And useless. I hate you for being the way you are”
Exactly.
Not nice – right?
We can do WAY better than that.
Remember that the most important person who influences how your body responds is listening when you Talk Smack in your head about it.
And that’s YOU.
Keep your self-talk loving. Keep your self-talk gentle and encouraging. Keep it light. Keep it positive. Talk lovingly and compassionately.
Talk to yourself like you would a treasured child or pet.
You might just be amazed at how you respond when the comparisonitus judgey self-hating body talk is exchanged for a stream of encouraging, loving positivity. You body might well just surprise you too.
Hating your body will never get you as far as loving it will.
