By Rebecca Flynn I spent my whole life, 33 years, hating my body, constantly criticizing my size, shape and weight and as a result I had a really unhealthy attitude towards food and eating, to the point of it being disordered. It took pregnancy, giving birth and becoming a mother to finally change that. Which is funny because all the narrative out there in the media and well, everywhere, is about "getting your pre-baby body back". WELL... NO THANKS. And I certainly don't want my pre-baby mindset back. To be honest, it's been a long and difficult journey and one I'm still on, but I don't struggle daily, nay, hourly, with my inner critic anywhere close to as much as I used to. Shortly after my son was born I was simply amazed by what my body did, in pregnancy and in childbirth, I made a frickin' human, what a privilege and a joy to be able to do that (as sucky as pregnancy and birth can unfortunately often be, it's still the closest I'll ever come to believing in "miracles")!! And then it went on to feed and nourish the little dude. Pretty goddamn cool, if you ask me. But it was as my parenting journey progressed that I began to realize that I didn't want my child to grow up to ever feel about his body, or think about women's/other people's bodies, the way I grew up feeling about mine. It's Parenting 101 that modeling behavior is the best way to instill a trait in your child, whether that be positive or negative, so I figured out pretty quickly that something major had to change. No matter how much I pretended to love my body, it'd never get across until I actually *did* love it. And now two years on, I still have low days (thanks a bunch PMS!), but I can happily say that I love and appreciate my body in a way that is so freeing and empowering. I can't recommend starting a body positive journey enough. It's been massively engrained into women, and to a lesser extent (but becoming more prevalent) men, via a patriarchal society and media that we must always have or be striving for a "perfect body", and that body is one that is generally unrealistic and unattainable. Big business/corporations profit from this self-doubt and the message to lose weight, change yourself, be perfect is so pervasive that it's very difficult to escape but it can be done if you are fortunate enough to have the impetus, time and energy.
Here's a list of 10 ways you can help yourself become more body positive.
I hope this helps. You can learn more and I'm always available to chat/give advice over on my Body Positive social media accounts: @BoPoIreland on Facebook and Instagram. Wishing you the very best if you're starting out or already on a Body Positive journey. You rock! Xx
1 Comment
Kim
10/31/2016 11:20:07 am
Love! Thanks!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Author LIST
Sinéad Redmond Archives |