I’ve had a recent relapse, here’s what happened…

For a while I’ve felt like I was doing really well in the body acceptance department.

This is a place I worked very hard to get to, in the most intentional way possible. I have disordered eating in my past, so this was a serious journey.

And recently I’ve been starting to feel on shaky grounds again.

Time to go back and do some more work!

This morning while I was doing my embodied awareness practice the voice of wisdom came and said to me:

“You’re spending more time out in the world than you have for a while, and you’re surrounded by diet culture EVERYWHERE. No wonder “I hate my body” is resurfacing”. 

If you’re not thin and you spend a lot of time in an environment with a lot of thin looking bodies, this may take a huge emotional toll on you.

And you might not even realize it as it’s happening. 

The old pull to do something about it is so strong but I know better now.

And sometimes, that can make it even harder.

I think most people don’t understand people like me. People who’ve made a conscious decision not to revert to disordered ways of eating and treating their bodies with kindness and respect.

Because honestly? Our society’s solution to “not liking your body” is to try and change it. To starve it, to over-exercise it, to yell at it.

It can feel quite lonely when you feel like the only one in your environment who thinks differently.

This is why I made the above list. I made it for myself as a reminder but I hope it is helpful to others too.

Feel free to save it for “bad body image days”.