Today we have a blog post from one of our Master’s level interns, Hannah Wise, about navigating body image. She shares helpful and mindful practices to find peace and comfort in your body.
Hannah feels a drive to help others reconnect with themselves and their bodies through mutual empathy, authenticity, and vulnerability.
She values the therapeutic relationship and sees it as a vehicle to deliver connection and healing. By creating a collaborative environment with clients, Hannah establishes a safe space for recovery and realignment.
Hannah believes that all bodies are beautiful and worthy. By reconnecting and honoring their bodies, clients can pull from internal strengths and skills to tackle the challenges and trials of everyday life. Hannah is honored and excited to walk along this journey of healing with her clients.
Navigating Body Image in Warmer Weather
It is that time of the year: temperatures are rising, social calendars are filling up, and beach vacations are on the horizon. Spring is finally here, and if you are anything like me, you are ready to shuck off your winter sweats and spend more time outside with the special people in your life. While more sunshine and warmer months can be invigorating, it can also be a time of vulnerability and stress for those who have a complicated relationship with their body and body image. There can be pressure to change our bodies in certain ways and dress in accordance with certain trends this time of year. If you are experiencing increasing anxiety in accordance with the rising temperatures, you are not alone.
In this post, I will outline three ways to feel peace and comfort in your body during this season. I want to emphasize that no one has ever or will ever fully love and embrace their body every single day; living this way is not the goal. Rather, I encourage you to seek ways to embrace self-compassion and acceptance toward your body.
Curate Your Social Media Feed
If you remember one thing from this post, let it be this: we create our own social media feed. The algorithm knows what hooks our attention and does not show us what we scroll past. While it can be a little scary to know our phones are tracking what we consume; I want it to be a reminder that you have autonomy and choice over what kind of media you consume. You will not be perfect at it, but I encourage you to not consume diet-culture related content.
The narratives online around what and how we should eat, move, and treat our bodies can be disordered. Perhaps the guidance you are seeing is coming from someone who is credentialed. However, this person does not work with you directly, and therefore is giving blanket advice that is not tailored to you and your unique body. While diet-culture related content may be impossible to avoid completely, please be mindful of what you are consuming and how it may be impacting your thoughts and feelings about your body.
Engage In Joyful Movement
Exercise is not meant to be a means for which we change our bodies. Movement is about finding activities that bring us joy, celebrating what our bodies can do, and promoting general health and wellness. By moving our bodies in a way that feels good, we can build more positive relationships with them. So, grab a friend and go for a walk in the warm weather or go for a jog in your favorite local park (make sure to pick up a latte from your favorite coffee shop after of course)! It is a gift to have bodies that can move, dance, walk, run, skip, and shake! Remember to follow recommendations of your dietitian and physician around movement itself.
Give Yourself Permission To Enjoy The Season
Warm weather is meant to be enjoyed. I invite you to give yourself permission to embrace this time of year, whether that is wearing shorts without second-guessing or saying yes to having an ice cream cone. Your body deserves to experience the joys of the season without hesitation. Lay aside the rules or milestones you have set for yourself around reaching a certain size or look before being allowed to embrace warmer temperatures. Surrender to this season of life and know that you are not alone in the pain and heaviness that may also come with Spring and Summer weather.
If you would like to learn more about navigating body image concerns, I recommend reading Health at Every Size by Lindo Bacon. This is a great starting point for getting curious around what it really means to be healthy and shifting your perspective from hating your body to living at peace within it.
Finally, I want to leave you with this affirmation: “My body is the least interesting thing about me.”
You got this!
Hannah
We hope you found Hannah’s insights on body image helpful. If her message resonated with you, this could be the perfect time to take meaningful steps towards your healing and peace. To initiate your work with Hannah, please feel free to call our office at 615.510.3797 or click here to learn more.
