Body Shame to Body Love

Hey, everyone, it's Alexandra. I hope you're having an awesome day. So today's video is moving from body shamin to body lovin. And I had a body lovin moment, like, a week ago. And I've just been thinking about body image, and I was wondering, you know, in college, I definitely had more body shame than body love, and I was wondering what helped me make that shift. And so I have four things for you that I'll share that I think were a big contributor to me making that transformation of just body image issues aren't at the forefront of my mind like they used to be when I was in my 20s. And there's a lot of reasons for that, I think. But I'll share four with you today, and I'll also share my body lovin moment. So my body lovin moment was getting ready for bed, and I was gonna go in the shower, and I looked in the mirror and just glanced, and then I just did a double take, and I was like, wow, I look really good. Like, I feel good in my body and realizing that most of the times I look in the mirror, like, I'm appreciating more than I'm diminishing or criticizing myself. And it's not like I'm not in body bliss all the time. I just think I look amazing all the time, and everything's, you know, unicorns and rainbows and I'm awesome. But there is a higher number of appreciations than criticisms, which I. I love that, and I feel really happy about that because it definitely used to be an issue for me. So I just felt a wave of appreciation and love and gratitude for this vessel, this body that I get to live in and that, you know, my son was in my belly and I gave birth naturally, and my breasts were breath gave him nourishment. Like, that is like science fiction amazing. What? To not see my body as anything but miraculous and magical seems like a disservice to God, to spirit, to life. And I just felt that that strong, powerful goddess of, like, owning my body and owning my beauty and feeling comfortable in my body. And after having that moment, I had a flash of. In college, I date a guy on and off, and at one point where an AOL was really popular, we were instant messaging back and forth, and he had decided that he no longer wanted to see me. And he proceeded to write that he didn't like anything about me. He didn't like my face and he didn't like my body, blah, blah. And I remember it being just devastating. And I put a lot of energy into being beautiful and being seen as beautiful and wanting to feel beautiful. And. And for him to say that just was like. It was, it was definitely. It definitely impacted me with my body image stuff. So I felt like there was a feeling that I needed to prove myself. I needed to prove that I was beautiful. I needed to prove that I was skinny and, you know, had the perfect body. And I was like committed to doing that. And some of that was conscious and some of it was just unconscious of like wanting to feeling like if I was this certain image that he would love me or people would love me or that I would get acceptance. And obviously we all know that that's just not true. And it's bs, bad belief systems. And so that image flashed up as I was looking in the mirror the other night. And then I just laughed and I thought, you know what his initials were? Mf. So I looked in the mirror and I said, you know what, mf I disagree. I love everything about me. I love my face and I love my body. So there. And I just kind of chuckled and it was just kind of fun and playful. But there was also a very strong feeling of power, of like almost just retrieving a part of me that maybe I disowned then or I lost or just that. That natural beauty and that power and that radiance of being a glorious woman and not letting somebody, not letting what somebody thinks about me impact the way that I see myself and to really own my body, Own my body, my beauty and my radiance and my natural unique gifts. And yes, so that was my moment and it just felt really awesome. And I was thinking about what is something that we could all do to kind of move from body shaming to body lovin'. And I think a few things that four things that actually I'll share with you is one, instead of focusing on your nutrition and your exercise as a way to lose weight or to achieve a certain body image, focus on how you can move and eat. To nourish your goddess body, to nourish yourself, to feel good, to feel alive. And don't force and push yourself. Just let your body be and figure out what she likes. For me, I'm really into right Now, I do 15 minutes of kind of high intensity training. I love that 15 minutes. Not a lot. Rebounding, walking, yoga, hiking. I do some jogging every once in a while and sprints because I like it. But everything is just because it feels good and it feels like it gives me energy and power. And I'm not doing it so that I lose weight or to attain a certain body image ideal. And I think the same goes with nutrition. Like, what nourishes you, what feels good for you. And don't do things because you think you're going to lose weight, but do them because they feel like you're actually healthier. You feel like you're more vibrant. You feel like they actually feel good, and they're really good for your glorious body temple. So that moving from criticizing and doing things because you hate your body to you know what? I'm gonna choose to love my body. I'm gonna say I love my body, and what does my body need? Like, figuring out what your body needs. What is. What does she need? What is she telling you? And having it be an experiment, seeing, trying things. That's how I've got to this place. I've tried a lot of things over a lot of years to figure out what feels right and nourishing for me. So I think that was probably the biggest thing. Really trusting myself, trusting my intuition, trusting my body, knowing that my body's doing the best that she can and working with her rather than against her. And what else do I have? No comparison. So this is big for us women. Like, I just. I think a lot of us will look and we see women and we compare. Oh, she's that da, da, da. I wish I looked like that. And my practice has been when I see somebody and I feel that, like, oh, wow, she's really beautiful. And I'm not beautiful. Like, I don't look like her. You know, the stories that we have. My practice has just been honoring her, like, blessing her, Bless her beauty. Like, she is beautiful. She's gorgeous. You know, there's some women who are just like, whoa, you have got it going on. You are amazingly gorgeous. And, like, not making. Diminishing myself in her beauty, but just celebrating it. Celebrating her beauty and her natural beauty and celebrating mine. Like, there's no need for comparison. There's space for all of us to be radiantly awesome in our own unique beauty. So stop the comparison. And if you notice the comparison, bless what you're seeing. Bless the woman, Bless whatever she's got going on. And also bless yourself. Like, take a moment to appreciate what you love about yourself, even if it's something small. Just appreciate. And then the third thing is media. Limit your media exposure. Magazines, tv, whatever. I don't. I kind of take an extreme just because. Not because I'm trying to be extreme, but I guess it's just kind of worked out that way. I don't read any magazines, I don't own a tv. I don't really tune into a lot of media stuff. And I think that's been a big impact of me just settling into myself. I'm not always comparing myself or seeing this person and all the things that are portrayed in the celebrity world and all of that. Like, I just, I kind of stepped away from that. I used to be really into fitness magazines. I don't look at those anymore. And I'm less interested of what other people look like and I'm more interested in. Of how I feel. How do I feel in my body? And just try it. Limit your media, magazines, tv and see if you notice a difference. And then when you do, when you're in those times, remember to stop comparing if you notice it coming up and bless and appreciate. And then I think the fourth thing is love your life. Like, create your life so that you don't have time to think about body image stuff. Like, don't let the body image stuff consume you. If you notice it, think about something else. Like, think about what you can create in your life. Think about what you love about your life, what you love about yourself. Do something kind for someone else. Like, get out of your spinning thoughts about your body image. That's been huge for me of like, what am I here to do? What am I here to do? Be created. Focusing more on that rather than what I'm supposed to be looking like and what my body should be look like. And just enjoy, like, enjoy your body, enjoy your life and love it all. So that's it. That's the video for today. I hope that was helpful for you. I know that it was helpful for me just to think about this idea and to own my body and my unique beauty in my. In my own way. And I send you lots and lots of body love. And I hope that you move from body shaming to body loving more often. See ya.