Body Image & Self-esteem
Body image refers to your mental image regarding your own body as well as how you perceive yourself in front of the mirror.
Self-esteem refers to how you respect and value yourself as an individual. Self-esteem influences how you pamper yourself emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Body image and Self-esteemdirectly impact each other. When you possess a healthy idea of your body, you accept it the way it is and feel comfortable about it and take care of it to the fullest.
When a person does not appreciate his body, he doesn’t feel good about it and doesn’t even take care of himself. This includes not eating properly or sleeping enough, maintaining distance from family and peers, or leaving the opportunities to do things that otherwise love to do. A healthy body image makes you identify your strengths, and you start feeling good about yourself. A positive aura where family and peers support each other and respect and accept each other’s look is highly crucial to body image as well as Self-esteem.
Body image is the emotional as well as the mental picture which you have of your body when you stand in front of the mirror. Good body image is much more than just tolerating your looks or not disliking your appearance. A good body image is completely accepting yourself the way you are, and not attempting to change your body to fit the imagination of the way you want to look. It refers to identifying personal strengths and qualities which make you feel happy about yourself beyond shape, weight, or appearance and preventing the pressure to achieve a perfect body that prevails on social media or online communities.
Self-esteem is how you respect yourself as an individual. It is your perspective regarding yourself both inside and out. It directly affects how you take care of yourself, not just emotionally and physically but how you treat your whole body. When Self-esteem is good, you respect yourself and your feelings; you know that you deserve respect and admiration from yourself as well as others. You celebrate and appreciate your potential and strengths; don’t be harsh on yourself even if you commit a mistake. Therefore you feel good about yourself even in hard times and difficult situations.
Things to do for healthy body image and good Self-esteem are discussed here. Give love and respect to your body. Eat nutritious and balanced diets which are suitable for your health. Try to do moderate and regular exercise for moving your body and grow stronger, not just to control body fat and burn calories. Take enough sleep of minimal 8 hours a day. Judge yourself on the basis of shape, weight, size, or looks. Give respect to people for their nature, character, qualities, achievements, not just because they are slim or good-looking. Wear clothes which make you feel comfortable and good about yourself.
Throw away the clothes from the closet which doesn’t fit you. Donate clothes that are extremely small and make space for the clothes that make you feel comfortable. Surround yourself with friends with a positive mindset who respect you and your uniqueness and accept you the way you are without judging you. Affirm positive words about yourself in front of the mirror every morning and try to replace negative thoughts to boost your body with positive ones. Create a list of good features of your body parts or components you don’t want to accept. Be careful of what you see and hear on social media. Ignore negative taunts regarding the body and commit to self-love. This will increase your self-confidence as well as self-esteem.
Signs of negative body image and self-esteem are discussed here. You start focusingon your flaws and body weight. You are not comfortable with your body and always feel conscious about it. You think that you would be happier and your life would be better if you were slim. You believe that you are not attractive enough like other people. You exercise with the only purpose of burning calories so as to keep your body fit.
Whereas, an individual with a healthy body image and good Self-esteem thinks of himself as a whole person, not a mere collection of different body parts. He accepts and enjoyshis authenticity and nature of body shape. He understands the fact that his looks does not determine his character and values. He feels confident of and comfortable with his own body and does not worry about weight loss and fat burning.
Body image and self-esteem really matter because they directly impact your behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. If you are not comfortable with your body, you can never feel good about yourself. Also, if you don’t feel worthy, it is impossible to witness any good things in life, and you can’t respect your body. Body image and good Self-esteem are not for making you happy but simply to respect yourself and think realistically, and making decisions to cope up with life problems in a healthy manner.
Hence, it is incredibly crucial to understand that everybody is unique and different in some way or another. People belong to different family backgrounds, and their environmental features influencetheir body types and weights in various manners. So, one should accept the body they are blessed with and never judge them on the basis of their looks because life is much more than just a slim body and pretty face.
