Guest Contributor
7. Exercise in ways you enjoy
Exercise can help people of all sizes look and feel their best. Working out releases endorphins, which are chemicals that boost your mood. Instead of seeing exercising as just a way to lose weight, focus on what makes exercising feel good for you. Do you feel proud of yourself after hitting a big milestone? Is it fun for you to go to the gym with your friends? Or do you just like looking around your neighborhood when you go for a walk?
If you make working out a fun part of your life and not just a chore, you can use it to boost your confidence without obsessing over how many calories you’re burning.
8. Try posing as a model for an art class
This has personally helped me. When I was 18, I felt insecure about my appearance and often hid behind layers of thick make-up. One day, when I was 19, a friend of the family invited me to pose for his art class. I was fully clothed, and in front of just a few students, but I was still anxious. For over an hour, I sat still while listening to the teacher and everyone else comment on my face.
“No,” said the teacher, looking at a student’s drawing, “her nose is much longer than that.”
“I can’t draw her chin right,” said one of the students, “it’s kind of sunken in.”
“This girl’s pretty unusual looking,” said another student.
I felt so embarrassed! But, at the end of the session, everyone showed me what they drew. The teacher’s drawing really was beautiful. I loved the way everyone’s drawings looked. Later, the teacher displayed his drawing in public, and I saw many people admiring it. This sparked a change in my self-esteem. I very slowly started cutting down on the amount of make-up I wore and reducing my negative self-talk.
Sometimes we need to see ourselves through other people’s eyes to find out what we really look like. So, even though it’s scary, I recommend posing for local art classes. At the very least, you’ll make some money!
9. Be confident —or fake it ‘till you make it
As I said before, confidence is hot. But, if you don’t feel good about yourself, how can you be confident? One way is to kick start the cycle by choosing to act confident.
Smile, laugh, make eye contact, and act as if you did feel sexy. Once you pick up the habit, it’ll become easier to keep it up. Again, acting confident will make other people see you as more attractive, which will make it easier for you to keep acting confident!
10. Don’t be afraid to ask for help
Sometimes, self-help isn’t enough. For people with eating disorders, like anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder, or other disorders affecting self-image, such as body dismorphic disorder, psychological help is often needed to battle their problems.
Anorexics often heavily cut back on the amount of food they eat. Bulimics go through binging cycles, in which they eat large amounts of food, and purging cycles, in which they put themselves through severe diets, extreme exercising, laxative abuse, or diuretic abuse. People with binge eating disorder go through episodes of overeating and feel helpless to control themselves. Although body dismorphic disorder isn’t an eating disorder, it also comes with serious self-image problems. People with this illness become so obsessed with an imaginary physical flaw that it can affect everything they do.
These disorders can strike women and men. If you have symptoms of one of these conditions that won’t go away after you try making lifestyle changes, and the symptoms are serious enough to stop you from living a healthy life, talk to your doctor. There are treatments that can help you.
In most cases, you can improve your body image by thinking positively, avoiding people or things that trigger you, making healthy lifestyle changes, and just practicing being confident. The key is to put yourself in the driver’s seat by focusing on things you can control. There are many things you can’t change about how you look, but there are many more things you can change about your environment, behavior, and attitude.
Daniela Baker is a social media advocate helping families find the secrets to the best credit card for rewards at CreditDonkey. She is also an eco-conscious mom and hopes today will be the day you decide to make a positive change in your life. You deserve it.
Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by akalat
