living in the positive body image spotlight

So, the lovely Christie suggested the topic for this post -Does being in the spotlight of body image put pressure on you to make the right choices and feel a certain way about your body? Which I think is a really important topic – especially salient for healthy living bloggers, but also for people who have made the active choice to live their lives positively.

The short answer is – no.

It’s not that I don’t think about whether or not I’m sending you guys positive messages or that I don’t want to be a good role model for what positive body image looks like, it’s just that I truly believe that it is impossible to love yourself no matter what, all the time. As a body image blogger, and I’m not sure that means I’m really in the spotlight but I do try to set a good example for both my readers and as I move about my life in real time, I am concerned most with honesty. I don’t want to tell you that I always love everything about myself, or always feel really great and secure in my skin. I have days just like everyone else where I look in the mirror and have a moment of what the heck is going on with my hair/skin/hips/outfit/LIFE.

It’s just that when I’m having a moment like that, I look at myself really hard and tell myself that I am beautiful, that I am worthy, and no matter what the mirror/my pants size/the scale/or whatever nameless troll who tells me I’m fat says - I am real and I am perfect just the way I am.

And then often I blog about it. I want to be as honest and open as possible in all aspects of my life, and I think that it is really good training to admit that you are having a less-than-adorable day – we all have them! The question is - what can we learn from them?

Things that I’ve learned from my moments of low self esteem:

1. I am not superwoman. I cannot do everything, while also simultaneously looking hot and put together. In fact, I can rarely do most things and also look pulled together. I have to be able to say no when things get to hectic, AND I have to cut myself some slack when I have humongous circles under my eyes or pimples all over my face or a rats nest of a head of hair.
2. I feel better when I drink enough water. When I am stressed I need to put the cup of coffee down and chug some.
3. Have a slew of outfits that I feel comfortable/sexy/awesome in. For me, this is a massive collection of dresses. No need to match or pair or think – throw on dress, feel instantly better about my “look”.
4. Shower at night. I never want to shower in the morning, and showering before I go to been when I am still full of vim and vigor from the day keeps away that ugh, I really should have showered this morning feeling.
5. Take vitamins. I have a chronic iron deficiency and everything in my life is so much better when I remember to take a multi-vitamin in the morning. Also, bonus, my skin looks epically better when I’m taking vitamins.
6. Have one day a week when I do some sort of self-care maintenance, whether that be shave my legs [bane of my existence], paint my toenails, or pluck my eyebrows, taking one day a week to get all that out of the way keeps me from looking in the mirror while I’m working doubles wishing that I hadn’t left the house looking like that.
7. Pack a lunch. It takes five extra minutes in the morning and keeps me from feeling wretched after consuming [insert awful food choice here].
8. Write myself post its reminding me of positive attributes that I might just have forgotten in the midst of my body image crisis.
9. Reach out! Chances are 99% of people know where you are coming from when you say, “I feel effing disgusting today,” instead of getting together with your friends to trash talk your body, utilize that time to have a power hour of body image lifting conversation. Compliment other people! Strangers even! I am a chronic complimenter and it always makes me feel better that stomping around and frowning.

Long story short – I can be a complete disaster more often than I care to admit. I spill coffee on my favorite shirts, get oil stains on my favorite dresses, fall up stairs or trip over my own two feet, have smudged eye make up, and a trillion of those “angel wings” [read: frizz] around the crown of my head, but you know what?  That’s me.

And I learned a long time ago that it is a heck of a lot easier just embracing it and laughing about it and loving my flaws, than nitpicking and worrying all the time about every little thing.

How about you? How do you strive to embrace your flaws? Bloggers: do you feel pressured to always exhibit impeccable body image? How do you juggle it all?

Also, do you have a question or topic that you’d like me to cover here at Medicinal Marzipan? I’d LOVE to hear from you. @reply me on twitter, comment below, or email me at medicinalmarzipan[at]gmail[dot]com.