*"When most people think of body image, they think about asp..
🕑 Added 2023-01-04 16:11:07 +0000 UTC
*"When most people think of body image, they think about aspects of physical appearance, attractiveness, and beauty. But body image is so much more. It's our mental representation of ourselves; it's what allows us to contemplate ourselves. Body image isn't simply influenced by feelings, and it actively influences much of our behavior, self-esteem, and psychopathology.... Indeed, our body is our personal billboard."* David Garner I’d like to add to this. He’s saying that our body image, the way we feel about the way we look, directly influences our behavior and psychology. I think this is especially important to realize in the “body positivity” movement we’re living in. Personally, my weight has fluctuated throughout my life. At my heaviest, I didn’t start getting healthy until I got to a place, mentally, where I was able to love myself at the weight I was at. That’s not to say I didn’t want to change but I accepted myself exactly where I was at the moment. It’s hard to make self improvements when you perceive yourself as less than. What’s the point in striving for excellence when you feel like garbage? Sure, you can hate yourself enough to start the process but it’s not sustainable in the long run. It’ll take one bump in the road for all your progress to come crashing down. In my experience, self acceptance is the first step to a sustainable healthy lifestyle.
