If you’ve been following me over the last couple of weeks you’ll have seen that I ran a 2 week challenge called #weloveourbodies. The aim of the challenge was to encourage myself and other people to get into a habit of body positivity rather than looking in the mirror and hating what you see.
You can see all of my posts on my Instagram and see what other people contributed to the challenge by searching the #weloveourbodies hashtag or clicking here. Rather than posting all of the images here I actually wanted to tell you what I learnt and what I’m taking away from the challenge.
1) Focusing on positivity can change your day
Each day that I posted an update I felt that my whole day was infused with a bit more positivity because I was looking at things in a new way. I was definitely stuck in a rut of looking at myself and my life and picking out the negative aspects rather than celebrating the positive ones
2) The human body is amazing
The things we can do by pushing ourselves and also just by existing are incredible. On a day to day basis our bodies get us through all sorts of things (like waking up at a 5:30am alarm…) as well as those special days when we push ourselves up to and beyond our limits
3) Being positive can be difficult
Towards the end of the challenge I was running out of things to be positive about, despite only identifying 10 or so things that I loved about my body. There were plenty of other bits of my body that I could feature but I was really struggling to be positive about them. One of the most difficult to post was the final day, featuring my stretch marks that I’m still learning to love
4) It’s amazing what we can do with a bit of support
I’ve noticed that particularly with women there is a default position to be bitchy and judgmental and we do it without even thinking, especially when we’re with friends. This challenge has shown me that with a bit of positive support then we can help other people to feel good about themselves. Let’s not tear other people down, let’s build them up together. Next time you want to say something bitchy take a deep breath and think whether it’s necessary
5) You can be positive about your body & still want to improve it
Part of loving your body is acknowledging what it can do and working with it to improve. The phrase ‘don’t workout because you hate your body, workout because you love it’ has never been more true. Enjoy the feeling of progress, revel in reaching your goals and celebrate your achievements. Try not to stand still and instead be constantly looking to see where you can go next