Feeling confident in your own skin

Battling with your own body image is something that every woman experiences at some point in their lives. Whether it was when you were a teen and your body began to change or when you became a mother - we've all experienced insecurities in some way. How you overcome these are down to every individual but just know that everyone can feel confident in their own skin, no matter their body "types".

So yes, you may be all shouting at the screen as you read this "well how the hell do I do this?". It's a question I've asked myself repeatedly over the years and habits and negative thoughts are so hard to change when that's been the norm for such a long period of time. In all honesty, it's loving kindness and meditation that has changed my mindset.

Loving-kindness practice is simple and requires patience and repetitiveness. It consists of choosing four phrases and repeating them over and over, each and every day. These positive affirmations work because it has the ability to program your mind into believing the stated phrase. This is because the mind doesn't know the difference between what is real or fantasy. There are of course negative affirmations that can stay with us also in the unconscious mind which we then seem to reinforce through our lives (my husband has never forgotten his primary school report where the teacher called him clumsy).

Meditation is another useful tool and I have written about its usefulness so many times. I can sometimes find it difficult to meditate independently so I often use the calm app to help guide my meditation for self-care/love.

Once you overcome these negative thoughts, learning to love yourself becomes so much easier. For me, it's helped me get into a better headspace to help me treat my body they way it should be treated. Eating right, exercising - it all becomes easier to do these things when you love your body rather than hate it.

One of my favourite, takes no shit, women has been Love Island's, Megan Barton Hanson. Yes, yes, I know, controversial right? She has taken so much hate about the cosmetic procedures she's gone under and her response? "I didn’t take these decisions trying to be a role model. I did it for me. I’m not ashamed of it. I’ve done what I’ve done because it made me feel comfortable." Now for me, I truly don't feel women should be targeted for the treatments they've had done, just like a women shouldn't be targeted for the weight she is, colour hair she has - these are our bodies and we chose to be comfortable in our own skin in whatever way feels right. Whether you decide you want to dye your hair bright pink, or cover a scar with a tattoo or for me I would love to get rid of my section overhang, of which I have heard that fat freezing can help reduce (Fat freezing is a new method of losing fat and it is just as it sounds, the fat actually gets frozen away. CoolSculpting uses this revolutionary discovery in a safe, effective and FDA approved way - Fat Freezing London,) - Don't be afraid of doing things to make you feel comfortable.

K Elizabeth xoxox

*Collaborative Post