Be kind to yourself, your body & mind will thank you dearly.

I often need a little reminder to be kind to myself. Thankfully I have some incredible friends who remind me of this when I’m lost. We all need a reminder, we all need to stick together to continue to be kind to ourselves.

While I am continuously spreading the word of positive body image, it continues to be a learning process for me. Because no matter how much we avoid media, or alter our reaction to media or talk positively when others are speaking negatively, it is impossible not to be affected at times. To avoid ALL negative body image messages would be like avoiding air pollution.

One of my biggest goals is to maintain a positive body image & share that with others. Either by sharing my experiences, helping others develop a positive body image [and relationship with food], and really living that. In addition to making sure that I stay positive with my body image is checking in with myself, both when I feel like my most amazing self, and when I feel like my worst self.

The questions that go through my mind when I’m checking in when I feel my worst self:

• why am I comparing my legs to hers?
• why am I comparing my body structure at all to those around me?
• what is truly going on in my life that is compelling me to lose weight while my body is healthy?
• this battle in my mind to have curves versus being skinny, or to have a visibly strong body – what is the true reason behind my desire to have a body that is significantly different to the one I currently have?
• when my goals revert back to how many calories I might burn, where is this really rooting from?

Interestingly if you ask yourself why you are comparing, wishing for a different body type, thinking about exercise only as a means to burn calories – it’s often because you are missing something else that is truly satiating in your life. Be Kind to Yourself. 

I encourage you to dig in. Deep. And find out what is truly making you feel this way about your body.

For me, I have recognized that I am very easily influenced by those around me. When others talk about the size of clothes they wear, that they have gained weight or lost weight, that they are dieting, that their skirt is too big and they wear a double zero … well at some point this affects my own body image. I can diffuse this kind of conversation for quite some time, but then eventually I catch myself thinking that way. Honestly though, this used to send me on a downward spiral and now I am able to catch it early in action and revert to my positive body image without much effort. I truly believe that EVERY SINGLE PERSON deserves to feel great in their own skin & owes it to themselves to feel that way. 

With Love & Health,

Katherine 

RHN

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