If your relationship with your body has had its ups and downs through the years and despite all your efforts to change that, you still remain your own strictest critic, spring is the time of year that usually makes things even more difficult. You see, clothes are getting smaller and smaller and you tend to focus more on the “flaws” you would like to correct on your body. And along with all the thoughts you’ve learned to have over the years about your appearance (I’ll be going to the beach so should I go on a diet?, How am I going to appear in a swimsuit? Will I still fit in last year’s bikini?), you also have a ton of conflicting messages to deal with from social media and the internet. All the health and fitness accounts and relevant influencers are more than eager to show you all the ways that you can get a summer-ready body for the beach in no time! But at the same time, since acceptance and inclusion are …trending while body shaming drives followers away, they don’t forget to remind you to love your body as it is…
But how easy can it be for someone to follow along these prompts and actually reconcile with their body? “Love your body” sounds so easy and appears as the solution to most body image problems. But is it possible? Why don’t we all do it? How easy can it be to love one’s body after all?
Body positivity | Body acceptance | Body neutrality | Body liberation
Most of us are familiar with the above terms and we have come across them when used to promote a positive or balanced body image. But they are not synonyms and, as behaviors, they are not all as easy to be put into practice. Let’s see how they differ.
Body Positivity
“I love my body.”
Body positivity: having only positive emotions towards your body. The ability to see one’s body as a part of oneself and to love it as such.
Are there really people who feel this way?
There probably are. Our relationship with our body begins in our childhood and is influenced by a large number of factors. Perhaps people who have not been exposed to ideal models, or who do not emphasize much on the differences of each human body, probably due to culture or religion, will always have a positive attitude towards theirs. Perhaps people with strong self-confidence due to character or upbringing, can always see their body as perfect and treat it only with love.
Can everyone treat their body positively?
For some people, it is very difficult. People who have grown up with ideal standards and sizes in mind, people who have tried in any way to change their bodies, people who have lived a large part of their lives at war with their appearance, can have a great difficulty in transitioning to a permanently positive body image. But it is not impossible. It requires an open mind, willingness to change and, of course, a lot of inner work with ourselves.
Body Acceptance
“I can live with my body.”
Body acceptance: Full acceptance of one’s body with all its flaws and imperfections. The ability to respect and take care of our body even if we don’t like some parts of it.
Is it easy for everyone to accept their body, regardless of its admitted faults?
For the same reasons we mentioned above, body acceptance is not always something easy. There is almost always something we don’t like and would like to change about ourselves. In addition, diet culture has taught us to compare ourselves to the mental image of perfection and this is a process that is done subconsciously. When we have learned all our lives to try to change our bodies, we will not learn to accept them overnight. To get to the point of respecting and caring for them requires a gradual change in mindset.
Body Neutrality
“I have a body.”
Body neutrality: The neutral acceptance of the body as a “tool”. The ability to accept it and appreciate it for the functions it performs every day in our lives.
When you treat your body with neutrality, you prioritize its functions and achievements and its image becomes less important. You see your body through a neutral eye, without judgment or forced love, and of course self-love does not require liking your body. You realize that you can’t always like your body and you accept this as a fact.
Is such a relationship with our bodies possible?
This is also a matter of character, culture and experiences of each individual. There are certainly people who don’t particularly care about their bodies, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they value and respect it. But the concept of neutral attitude towards one’s body can be an intermediate step for people who want to balance their relationship with their body. Appreciating each part of your body separately instead of trying to change it because it’s not perfect is a step towards the right direction. Appreciating your legs that take you wherever you need to go every day, instead of looking at them constantly in disgust because they are larger than you would like, is a first step towards acceptance and, why not, love.
Body Liberation
“I am more than my body.”
Body liberation: The separation of self-value and the value of each person from the image of the body.
When you experience “liberation” from the importance of body image in your life, you have separated your personality and worth from the size, shape and other features of your body. At the same time, you detach the image and any sizes of any body from the worth and abilities of the person who inhabits that body.
This kind of body acceptance promotes inclusion and fights weight stigma, sizeism and discrimination. But is it easy?
It is certainly possible. When one realizes how prejudiced we are as a society against the different shapes and sizes from what we have been convinced is the ideal for many years, when one decides that themselves and every human being are much more than a body, then the process of body liberation begins. Definitely a time-consuming one, a difficult one, and with many setbacks. But it’s definitely worth it.
Because your relationship with yourself and your body is the only relationship that demands resolving your differences and it will really be worth the time and energy. If you, too, are tired of constantly being at war with your body, you can take the first step towards freeing yourself from what the diet culture has taught you. Just remember two very important things.
- First, it doesn’t mean you will stop caring about your nutrition, your health, or yourself.
- And secondly, that it is a process that requires time, effort and work, like any other change.
The following article will help you better understand how the body image you have today has been formed during your life. And I hope it will be the stepping stone for you to start balancing your relationship with your body and consequently with yourself.
Do you want to know how you came to feel and think about your body the way you do? Read about 10 factors that contribute to shaping a body image throughout our lives.
