Charity starts from home

Remember, body shaming is not always from external forces. Sometimes, we are the cause of all the toxicity that cause use to care less about our bodies and other. This is typically because we were indirectly thought to have this behaviour in our childhood by listening to our parents, friends or other people body shaming. Rather than focusing all your strength on people outside, you should start with a strong conviction that you are perfect the way you are. It then follows that the first step to stopping body shaming is to check yourself. Consciously break the habit of negative thoughts and replace them with positive reframes. If you want, look at it as having a mantra that you can always remind yourself of how beautiful and attractive you are. Use the same towards other people. You do not know anything about their struggle or journey, therefore, quit the body shaming! The problem with many of us is that we spend too much time in our heads. As a result, we are always focused on how we talk, walk, and pay too much attention to the little imperfections. Unknown to you, everyone has “imperfections”. To boost your confidence, you have to make yourself feel confident. What better way to do this than to practice self-love? Yes, if you don’t love yourself, do not expect someone else to do so. Appreciate your body and work hard. Make it such that, when you stare into your reflection, you can find something joyous in what stares back out at you. You can then back it up with making a list of positive affirmations. I promise you, this will work. You will get a little uncomfortable at first, but be consistent with it.

Understand that there is no definition for “perfect”

Another mistake that people make is to try to be perfect. For example, a lot of people start dieting or working out to develop the perfect. As a result, they start chasing unrealistic body goals. In the end, they are left exhausted and frustrated after failing to find a definition for perfect. Here is one illustration that I love to use, and I believe it really brings home the point. Every year, snow falls. If you’ve ever been a kid or have kids around, there are times they would play with the snow and try to catch the snowflake. However, did you know, that no snowflake will ever be the same? Think of all the billion flakes that falls from the sky every year! The uniqueness of every snowflake is why the snow is one of the most beautiful things we can ever experience. Likewise, humans are designed, each with their uniqueness. Hence, it will be wrong to try and fit everyone into the same mould. If you spend years chasing happiness through extensive exercise and fad diets, chances are that you will lose yourself and everyone around you. Why? Because you won’t have anything in common with them. Instead of criticising yourself because you don’t look like a famous Instagram celebrity, follow inspiring people who will always encourage you to be more of yourself and less like them. This point follow the next point down below and is super important if you want to stop body shaming.

Block toxic people and accounts

Another way to do this is to cut down on your social media influences. What happens online should stay online, and sometimes it should even stay hidden. Although this approach promises excellent returns, most people lack social media literacy to make it work. More than a clear comprehension and decoding behind social media activities, you should know how people convey their ideas. Hence, when you understand that what most people post online is a minor reflection of what is going on in their lives, you won’t care so much about their opinions. Blocking toxic accounts is a simple thing to do. However, it is not often easy. For example, it is not easy to cut off people who are always shaming how you look if they are your favourite friends, childhood friends or family members. However, you can always confront them, especially if you think it is not intentional. If they are not willing to change, you can go further and report the comments you find disturbing. After this, block them online and any popular influencer that make you feel bad about your body and confident. Even though the accounts don’t body shame, they can still share content that make you feel unworthy, so unfollow all accounts that share related content. It is hard to stay focused when your news feed is about what feeds your body fears. If an account makes you feel bad about yourself and about the changes you’ve made, unfollow the accounts immediately. In addition, you can look for accounts that feed your body positivity, positive mental health goals and happiness.

To speak or not to speak?

The tongue, as they say, is a sword that can make or break you. Hence, if you feel you have nothing positive to say to or about someone, don’t say anything, even though the person is not there. It is that simple. Don’t Say anything. Only allow positive words about people’s bodies to proceed out of your mouth. The negative things you say about people, only reflect the thoughts you feel about yourself or the matter. If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t comment at all. Just be nice. We live in a world where a comment on someone’s body can cause devastating consequences. The narrative is even simpler if you don’t mean a hurtful comment. Instead of blaming yourself in the end, it is better to stay quiet. On the other hand, speaking up for someone else is considered easier than confronting your bullies. Why not do that? If you see or hear someone abusing or shaming someone, there is nothing bad in calling them out for it. Remember, all of these are to express your support towards the victim. Who knows, a kind word from a stranger or a friend, and other like-minded individuals could be the saving grace the person needed. Remember, the people who body shame others, might not feel too good about themselves either.

Friends and family are like blankets

Friends and family members can be anything you want them to be. However, friends and family members are like blankets for this narrative. Their duty is to shield you from attacks, even from a body shamer. You can’t bring yourself to a complete positive state about yourself if you surround yourself with negative or low-vibration people who only talks about weight, acne, dieting or body images. Not just this, it will be very daunting if you spend too much time with people who favour saying hurtful things about other people’s bodies. This step can be challenging. To do this, you need to evaluate the sentiments and the values of the people you hang around. Do they make nasty remarks about people, or are they quick to defend victims? If you do this, you will be able to carefully select your circle of trust to only include positive people. Not just this, your social media account does not have to be a breeding zone for negative experiences in the future. As I said earlier, after unfollowing negative accounts, you need to curate your feeds into a body-positive one.

There’s nothing wrong with befriending a book

Since we are talking about surrounding yourself with positive people, let it widen the scope to include books. Body positivity books are filled with positive words that can make all the difference. To uplift your mind, buy and read books about self-love that will make you see your body in a new way, love it the way it is, and accept you for who you are.