Darla G. Denton | Author Platform Coach

I’m going to bet that you’ve probably heard about body confidence by now.

Maybe you’ve already read a few blog posts about it, read a news piece or two, or heard one of your favorite celebs talking about it.

But what is it really?

To understand what Body Confidence is we must first understand what Body Image is.

Body Image is the way we SEE our bodies through our eyes and the eyes of society.

Body Confidence is the way we FEEL  about our bodies that is brought on by how we see ourselves and the way others treat us.

What is the big deal about body confidence?

Have you ever had a day where you just FELT like crap? Like you were worthless? Like nothing good has ever or will ever happen to you?

Now, think back on that day. Did you also FEEL like you looked like crap? Did you see yourself in the mirror and THINK, “I’m worthless. No one is going to want anything to do with me because I look like this.”

We’ve all been there. Where a bad hair day or an uncomfortable outfit will ruin your whole day.

Maybe you even heard someone make a negative comment about your appearance and it ended up turning a great day into a horrible one.

Body confidence is important because so much stems off of how we feel about ourselves whether we want to admit or not.

When we feel good about our bodies we:

• Look happier and healthier
• Feel happier and healthier
• Our actual physical health improves
• We are more willing to be social
• We are more willing to take chances with our career and education
• We get along better with our friends and loved ones.

Really, the list could go on forever.

When you lack body confidence you are in a daily battle of self worth. You feel:

• You look unhappy and outwardly portray negativity
• You feel unhappy and your body just aches all day long
• Your actual health is being harmed by the negative thoughts that drown your brain on a constant basis
• You will do anything to avoid being social
• You never take an opportunity to advance in your career and education because you feel like it would be pointless
• You are in constant arguments with your friends and loved ones because they want to help but they cant. Why? Because body confidence is something YOU need to obtain for yourself.

How do you achieve body confidence?

We are born with body confidence.

I know it might not seem like it but we are not born thinking we need to look a certain way to be relevant or to be worthy.

That way of thinking happens over time as societies standards are slowly shoved into our face.

Think about this.

You did not always hate your body.

Something at some point made you think, “My body is not pretty. or My body doesn’t look the way it should or I will never get what I want until my body is perfect.”

On a daily basis we are bombarded with pictures, commercials, newspaper articles, books, songs, and even the comments of strangers or loved ones that we just aren’t good enough. That our bodies aren’t good enough. That unless we change the way we look we will never achieve our dreams.

Industries make billions of dollars every year on our feelings of inadequacy.

So how do you break out of this prison of negativity and find a way to love and appreciate yourself?

⇒Step 1: Realize that everything you see on TV, in newspapers, written in books, in videos and in songs has no control over you.

You have control over your own thoughts. 

⇒Step 2: Sit down and understand WHY you FEEL so negative about yourself and about your body?

Once you understand the WHY you’ll be able to understand the HOW.

⇒ Step 3: Realize HOW those negative thoughts and feelings impact your day, your life and your health.

You will be shocked once you see just how much power negative thoughts have over you. 

⇒ Step 4: List all the positive things about yourself and your body.

Negative thoughts can’t harm you unlessyou let them. 

⇒Step 5: Surround yourself with positivity. Listen to body positive music, watch videos that talk about body confidence, read books that will help you learn how to appreciate yourself and surround yourself with people who encourage body positivity and body confidence both online and in the real world.

Once you surround yourself with Body Positive People you will begin to understand that you are enough! 

♦ You don’t need to loose weight to love your body

♦ You don’t need to get plastic surgery to love your body

♦ You don’t need to wear the perfect clothes and you don’t need to have the perfect hair

 All you need is the confidence to know that what you have right now is perfect.

 

Watch this video about a documentary in the making Embrace: Learning to Love Our Bodies by Taryn Brumfitt at BodyImageMovement.com #ihaveembraced.

 

 

Monday @ 9 am “How to Format Your MS and What Page Lengths and Words Lengths to Expect in Your Genre”

Wednesday @ 9 am “What Are The Most Popular Genres in Romance and How Do They Compare?”

• How do you feel about your body image? Do you lack body confidence or do you have abundance of it?
• Can you remember what made you first see your body in a negative way?
• What do you think should be done to help future generations overcome this?