Having a positive mindset can do wonders for our health and wellbeing. It can help us look at life in a completely different way and help improve our confidence when approaching certain situations. Body positivity is part of this mindset too, helping us feel more confident and relaxed about our appearance. This can be easier said than done, of course, and affects people in varying different ways. If you are looking at ways to increase your body confidence, here are some top tips to help.
1. Invest in You-time
There’s no better feeling than when enjoying some quality time by yourself. Whilst you may prefer to be around other people such as friends and family, we all still need alone time to readjust and focus on what’s important. Whether you zone out exercising, meditating or by indulging in the latest products at megapleasure.co.uk, there is no underestimating the power of some well-needed you-time. It can do wonders for your body confidence as the more comfortable you are in your own skin, the easier it will be around others such as your partner or strangers you may meet day to day.
2. Focus on being Healthy
It can be easy to have an image of the perfect body in your mind and be very difficult to escape any idealized look you see on social media and other sources. Everyone’s idea of the perfect body image can vary drastically and sometimes there is too much emphasis on the wrong thing. Being healthy is a better focus to have than chasing a certain size, weight, or shape. These body goals can affect body confidence and can become all-consuming. Focusing on a healthy diet and lifestyle will help you to become more comfortable with who you are and begin better habits, improving your overall confidence.
3. Avoid Negative Comparisons
Comparing yourself with others is a natural habit and as humans, we can be competitive, but this can have a negative impact on our self-image. We absorb images of other people throughout our daily lives either through the media or in person, so avoiding comparisons with body shape, hair and weight can be difficult. Accepting that we are all different in our unique ways will help to boost body confidence. Negatively comparing yourself with others is one way for body confidence to begin to drop, so taking a positive approach to your body and avoiding negative self-talk is best. Avoid triggers of negative comparisons if you feel social media can make you feel worse and focus on the positives.
4. Surround Yourself with Positives
This can be a difficult one to know where to start, but reducing the negative aspects of your life will help to increase positivity. Whether it’s the people you choose to hang around with, to avoid negative conversations that are unnecessary, finding the negative parts of your day that could be impacting your confidence will do wonders. Through social media, follow more body positive accounts and unfollow those that make you feel less confident overall. By being surrounded by positivity, you can begin to give your body confidence a boost and increase your overall well being.
5. Compliment Others
Whilst this may seem an unusual way to focus on your own body confidence, complimenting others can be just as effective. The act of being kind to others in general is a great way to make yourself feel more positive, that you are doing something that makes someone smile and feel good. This works the same for body positivity, as by complimenting others, they may be compelled to compliment you back. However, complimenting just to get this in return is not the way to go, and you should want to compliment others in the same way you would want to be. Being positive about others’ appearance and not being negative is one of the best ways to feel more confident in yourself, both for your body and mind.
6. Describe Positive Things About You
Try and list good things about you that haven’t necessarily been said by others. This can be difficult and leave many feeling awkward doing so, but the effect is that it focuses your mind on being kind about yourself rather than harsh. Many of us are harsh on ourselves, mainly as we want to push towards our life goals and ideal image. However, this is rarely a positive experience and leaves you feeling negatively towards yourself and others. It might be difficult at first, but once you start listing positives, you will naturally feel better about yourself. Whilst you may have things you dislike about your body, you will have things you do like, so focus on these.
7. Be Grateful For Who You Are
It can be very easy to become all focused on body image to the point that nothing else matters. This distorts your reality and trivialises other achievements in your life. You could have many things that are positive about your life that you are ignoring, choosing to focus on the way you look instead. We are all human, and we all do this to some extent, but when it gets to the stage where it’s all you think about, be mindful and grateful for what you do have. After all, unless your work or dreams centre around body image, you have many other things more important to focus on.
8. Talk to Those Who Can Help
If you have tried everything and are still struggling with increasing your body confidence, speaking to those who have experienced the same may help. Sometimes it’s difficult for people to admit they may have an issue that needs help, but when they do, they’ll find it isn’t as scary and difficult as they first thought. Speaking to others who have overcome the same feelings can be beneficial as it will show there is a way forward. There are support networks you can join and counselling sessions you can attend that may provide the resolution you are seeking.
These are just some of the ways to focus on your body confidence and remove negative factors where possible. A combination of all and other methods will provide a better outlook and help refocus on what’s important.
