Body Hatred To Body Liberation
5 Actions When You Have A Massive Setback
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I think it’s safe to say I’ve gotten a lot of material from my recent emotional breakdown. Today I’m going to talk about going from body hatred to body liberation. The things I’m going to suggest will still be helpful to you if you’re making this journey for the first time. However, because I was at peace with my body and then had a major wobble, the focus of this piece is what to do when that happens.
I was devastated by the damage to the relationship I had so painstakingly constructed with my body. It had felt so solid, so permanent, and I was sure that nothing could knock me off course anymore. But then, a nasty bout of depression coupled with a big row with my husband set me straight on that. I now accept there may not be a place you can get to where you never wobble, never struggle. It’s a tedious part of being human and a woman, I guess.
Enough dwelling on it for now! Instead, let’s focus on how I’m going to move forward.
1) When A Carefully Curated Social Media Feed Is Key
When I first started down the path to body liberation, I spent a lot of time cleansing and rebuilding my social media feed. First, I removed anything, however small, that made me feel bad about my body. Then I went looking for accounts that made me feel powerful, strong, beautiful, capable, and most importantly, HEARD.
I looked for accounts that echoed the way I felt now and accounts that reflected where I wanted to be. For those of you thinking, “sure, she flooded her feed with people saying it’s good to be fat, no exercise or healthy eating anywhere”, you’re wrong. Many of the accounts I follow discuss eating to nourish and strengthen your body, and others talk about how to exercise for the joy of it and to see what I can accomplish.
The ones I removed were those that discussed diet and exercise solely as a means to lose weight. I do not apologise for that. I would not have been able to go from body hatred to body liberation without a decent social media feed.
So, because I have this ready-made support system, I spent a lot of time looking at posts from my favourite people, reminding myself that my body does not…
