Tips For Body Confidence This Summer
Body confidence can be especially difficult in the summer. All the conversations from January first through now about "getting your summer body ready for summer" brings so much pressure for looking perfect and feeling perfect in your body. It can feel debilitating and can really put a damper on all things that are fun about summer if you feel you haven't achieved this "summer body" everyone is talking about. I feel ya, girl! But I want you to feel confident in your body this summer no matter where you are! I want you to enjoy things like going to the beach, grilling out with friends, getting outdoors and enjoying the warm summer breeze.Take a deep breath and relax your shoulders if you've found yourself tensing up thinking this couldn't be possible for me.You feel better? Ok. Let's get real about summer body confidence!First off, it's not your fault you don't feel confident in your body. Our culture puts so much pressure on us needing to look a certain way in order to have confidence in our bodies. What I want you to know, though, is that this pressure is something you can either take to heart and let it keep you stuck in body dissatisfaction. Or you can push forward, not allowing it to take you captive.We have power over the things that keep us from confidence. You have power over the things that keep you from confidence.So here are a few tips for owning your confidence in your body this summer!
SET YOURSELF UP FOR CONFIDENCE
Our environments greatly influence who we know ourselves to be. If you are constantly being bombarded with negative body talk day in, day out, likelihood is you're going to believe it. No matter how confident you are, constantly hearing negatives about your body will inevitably lead you to believe negative about your body. Set yourself up for confidence by surrounding yourself with confidence-promoting influences. This could be in-person and/or online. I can not stress enough how important it is to unfollow those who are body bashing or recommending you change your body on social media. Set yourself up for confidence by surrounding yourself with those who will empower you to feel confident.Setting yourself up for confidence may also entail dressing for your now body and wearing clothes that feel good. When you feel good in your body with the clothes you're wearing, whether you're wearing a bathing suit or dress, or shorts, finding styles and sizes that make you feel comfortable will translate to you being more able to feel confident!
BE MINDFUL OF YOUR WORDS
The way we speak to ourselves is often far from how we would speak to a friend. Be intentional about listening to yourself and when you hear anything that isn't promoting confidence, isn't something you would say to a friend, try replacing it with something uplifting and positive. This exercise may take some time to notice a switch in your mindset, but know that even the act of being mindful and noticing when words you speak to yourself, either out loud or to yourself, are not serving you is so powerful with promoting your own body confidence! One exercise I like to encourage clients I work with to do is make a chart with common negative words they speak to themselves on one side and then writing something positive and uplifting on the other side. That way you have a very real and tangible thing to replace each negative when you notice it. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you!
FIND WAYS TO RESPECT YOUR BODY
A great way to boost body confidence is to find ways to respect your body! Your mindset, with this, shifts from tearing down your body and your body confidence with it to respecting your body which builds body confidence! Think of each action that you do as either promoting body confidence versus tearing down body confidence. I like to recommend practicing being introspective, or having regular conversation with yourself about what is going on inwardly for you. So for example, one way you can promote body confidence by respecting your body is respecting your need for good sleep and honoring your body's need for rest. Not honoring your body's need for rest could set you up for feeling bad in your body because you feel physically bad from not sleeping well. Another example would be eating intuitively. When you eat intuitively, you eat in a way that honors what your body is telling you. Whether it's to eat something more with more veggies because something heavy wouldn't feel good in your body or eating a burger and fries because that's what sounds good. And you have the knowledge that both are good choices for different times in your life!When you respect your body, you build trust with your body and trust with your body builds confidence!
DO THE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO THIS SUMMER!
What can happen is we let our lack of confidence interfere with us doing the things we really want to. This can happen any time during the year, but especially at summer where, as I mentioned, there's a lot of pressure to look a certain way to go out in shorts or a bathing suit or what not. I want to encourage you to push past this discomfort that may be holding you back. Lean into getting uncomfortable as a way to stretch yourself, to grow. Doing things that are difficult is how we grow as individuals. And it's now we grow in confidence! Start with something small and see how it feels to do the uncomfortable. You may be surprised that it's not as difficult as you had envisioned! I hope these tips help you this summer and encourage you to take on the character of one who is confident in their body! Share with me one thing that speaks to you after reading in the comments below!