We’re almost at the end of our body confidence series! 🙌🏾I just wanna say I’m so proud of myself for staying consistent and getting here. This will be the final blog post of the series and I thought what better way to close this conversation than to close this chapter than to talk about how we can start practicing falling in love with our bodies where they’re at. That way if you choose to make any changes to your body it comes from love and not hate. This post will basically be my fav self-care practices that have helped me fall in love with my body. Feel free to add any to the comments section below.
The thing with falling in love with your body is that you actually have to show it love and do loving things to and for it. And of course practice self-care. As you keep doing this, you get more comfortable with your body and it gets a lot easier to fall in love with her/him/them. Btw I realized that addressing my body with my preferred pronouns allows me to befriend her and see her as more than just a canvas of my insecurities and see her for what she does for and with me. It kind of allows me to connect with her more and makes it easier to be compassionate and loving with her. Anyway, here are my favorite self-care activities to help you love on your body.
Touch your body! Skincare, long showers, self-pleasure -you name it!
It’s time to get familiar with how your body feels and how it feels to be in your body while giving her/him/them some TLC. Invest in skin care and body care products that smell good, work with your skin type and are of course within your budget. Create a skin care routine, start with just the basics: cleanser, moisturizer & SPF and follow the skin care girlies to learn more about the products and if they work for your skin type. A lot of the time we focus on skin care and forget about body care but not here, next time you’re shopping get yourself a nice shower gel that makes you feel and smell good, invest in a body scrub if your skin type appreciates that, get some nice creams and/or oils that layer well with your shower gels scents. Get to know what you and your body like as well as what you don’t enjoy and appreciate your body’s ability to experience different kinds of pleasure from sexual, to scents and skin & body care. And whenever you feel like splurging, treat yourself to a spa day.
Practice Gratitude & Positive Self-talk
You may have noticed that you don’t necessarily speak kindly to your body, or at least you wouldn’t speak to your friend the way you speak to yourself. Part of falling in love with your body is giving her/him/them the flowers that she/he/they deserve and being appreciative of all your body does for you. One way to practice that is by saying some loving, positive or neutral affirmations like the ones in this post. Another way is by starting a gratitude log and appreciating all the good stuff your body allows you to do or does for you.
Get NAKED!
Seriously. When was the last time you were naked other than in the shower or when you’re getting dressed? I promise you being naked is so LIBERATING and it helps you get comfortable being in your skin by letting you just be in your skin. Now, I’m not telling you to go to a nude beach if that’s not your jam, but you can start small by taking a few minutes before getting dressed to look at your body or sleeping in the nude. And if/when you’re ready to dive deeper, embrace naked body movement. This can look like doing yoga naked, or dancing naked in front of a mirror. Of course it will be awkward & uncomfortable at first and you will notice some angles that don’t feel flattering to you, but keep at it, soon you’ll start to appreciate more and more things about your body. Pay attention to how your body moves & jiggles, the cute rolls and grooves, muscle definition in places you didn’t know, stretch marks aka tiger stripes and all the things that make your body unique.
I hope these tips were helpful and that the content you interacted with from me this month did something for your relationship with your body 🥰. Remember, you don’t have to practice all these, find what works for you. This is just a guide; take what you love and leave what you don’t but try everything at least once -you never know maybe you might enjoy it.