Body Positivity and Social Media

With May being Mental Health Awareness month I thought I’d talk a little bit about body image and social media.

Social media has become such a huge part of our culture. It’s something our parents grew up without and future generations won’t know a life without. Right now, we’re still learning to navigate it and understand the impact of it on our lives.

Body image and how you perceive yourself can have a massive impact on numerous areas of your life, from how you present yourself and how you interact with others to even your physical posture.

Particularly since I have an online presence, this is something that has affected on how I see myself. I’m in a good place with it now, but when I first started on Instagram years ago, it felt like a real comparison game. Naturally, this took a toll on how I viewed myself and my body image as well as my mental health.

Over the years, I’ve shifted my perspective and it’s really helped me to feel more comfortable in the space, as well as find enjoyment in it again.

Today I wanted to share my personal tips for improving body image mindset. These are the tips to help keep me grounded and give me more clarity on what’s facts and what just thoughts.

1. Identifying thoughts and challenging them

The first step to improving your thoughts around body image is to pay attention to how you’re talking to yourself. We all do it subconsiously so much, a lot of the time we don’t realize it.

Once you’ve idenifited these thought, it’s time to challenge them. Are they based on a fact or just an opinion about the way you feel? Is this view realistic?

This is something I’ve needed to be consistent of reminding myself to do. It’s so easy to get lost in thoughts instead of questioning if they are valid. I find journaling has helps to organize them and look at them more objectively.

Check out my post on how to start journaling and 8 morning journal prompts for a productive day!

2. Show your body gratitude

Gratitude is really a magical thing. When you practice gratitude, you’ll begin to see how abundant your life can be.

I admit I fall in and out of this practice, but I always come back to it. And that’s because it works!

Taking time to appreciate your body for what it can do will cultivate gratitude for your body’s abilities, not just looks! It can be as simple as ‘thanks for walking me to the store to get groceries’ or acknowledging yourself for completing that tough workout.

But over time, these bits of gratitude will add up to great love and appreciation for your body image.

3. Find a way to feel grounded

It’s so easy to lost in this online world. But just know that everyone is only sharing the highlight reel of their life. It’s important for you keep in check to what’s real and what’s not.

I think having things in your life that grounds you can really help. I’ve found work, activities like working out, as well as close friendships have help to keep in check with life.

With work, it’s an environment that completely away from my role as a content creator. And with my friends I get the honest opinions rather than a filtered perception of things.

Working out grounds in me a different type of way, more like creating a schedule and structure to my life. You make this any kind of routine, a morning routine, or night time routine – something that you’re able to do on a regular basis.

I think it’s so important to be conscious about how we view our body image and be aware about how it’s shaped. It’s linked so closely to mental health and can have a large impact on our lives.

I hope these tips were helpful and if you have any of your own body positivity tips, share them in the comments below!

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XOXO,