Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror and just felt like eh, or blah. Don't worry we all have. The only way to overcome that hurdle is by embracing your body flaws and all. That seems like such a hard obstacle especially when you are staring at stretch marks or an unsightly pimple. I have news for you, get over it. We all have something that we are insecure about no one on this earth is perfect. Embrace your body and love yourself, no one will be able to explore or embrace it for you.
Our AMAZING fitness expert Shoya Clough shared her personal tips on building confidence through your body image. Sometimes I have days where I look at myself and I feel blah. There is no other way to word the frustrated image. There might be no change in my body, but my negative feelings begin to dictate my thoughts, which in turn dictate my self-image—even if it’s just momentarily. I’ve realized that both men and woman judge their body image harshly and in many cases, almost equally, suffer from body dysmorphia disorder (adaa.org). So, it is important to keep the confidence flowing and not focus on the negative thoughts, that for whatever human-flawed reason, try to control our minds. Remember, we are masters of our own domain. For those tough days where your confidence is a little low, here are five (5) ways to get your mood up: 1. Feelings, oh feelings, how I loathe you!—feelings stem from our senses and natural emotions, but sometimes our feelings alternate on it’s own and will trap us in emotional bubbles. Ever woken up angry or really happy for no apparent reason? That’s the unpredictability of feelings. Be mindful of this and take control of your thoughts. Tell yourself that you’re being irrational when you start picking at your body and feeling down because you think you should look better. Every battle is first won by the mind, so even if you don’t feel like you look great, fake it like you do. 2. Girrl love yo self – Another way to build your confidence towards your body image is to get naked. I’ve mentioned before in a previous blog how embracing one’s nakedness is emancipating. Look at yourself in a full-length mirror and get familiar with every part. Look at the shades of color that goes into your masterpiece. Look at the curvatures that define your shape. Look with of eyes adoration rather than judgment. Look at all the time and magic that went into making your beautiful body. To put things in perspective: How can you share your body with people and expect them to appreciate it when you don’t? Why should foreigners know your land when you’re the native? I carried my stretchmarks on my buttocks from my teenage years as a sign of shame. Every time I wore a bikini I felt as though people were staring at them. I remember my boyfriend at the time told me he loved them after I tried to hide them from him by turning the lights off. I was so surprised because I was so self-conscious till then. It took another person appreciating my body for my body image confidence to grow. 3. Try something new—Sometimes we get too focused on the negative things in life and we need to distract ourselves with something fulfilling. Since we know that negative body image is a dangerous negative mindset, we need to replace that negativity with something positive. Try signing up for a yoga class, spin class, kickboxing class, or if you’re daring, pole dancing class. Trying something new can alter one’s mood and confidence. It creates a feeling of accomplishment and security within yourself. 4. Hair!—Don’t EVER underestimate the power of hair. Screw going on a shopping spree when you can get your hair done instead. Sometimes your image seems blah and a simple trip to your hair salon/barber shop can transform your look and confidence. Ever notice how a guy goes from eh to dyam with a simple haircut? Or how you feel like a complete dud until your trusty stylist slay your tresses making you feel like a powerful queen? Well, that’s the effect of hair on body image confidence. I could throw on a plain tank top and jeans with my hair done and feel like a million bucks, and feel less confident wearing an expensive outfit with drab hair. 5. Chit-chat and coffee – Sometimes we need to be around our close group of friends and talk about the things we struggle with. Friends aren’t just for helping us through break-ups. They help remind us that we all have similar struggles. Often we get caught up in our own minds and when our confidence gets shaken we need another person to help support us. Good friends are like medicine; their relatability and experiences can help soothe our angst. A good support system and some coffee or wine solves many problems including gaining a positive perspective on our body image. For more amazing inspirational health tips follow Shoya on her Instagram at @rudegyalskc
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Ahhhhhhhh! Woooooooooo! That's what it feels like after you finish the best workout ever. You guys know that feeling right? True resilience. Every person I know, whether man or woman, who is in the gym or working out at home has an inner confidence within them that shines through everything they do. They feel empowered, unstoppable, and ready to conquer the world. It's amazing what lifting a few weights can do.
Confidence is gained by loving yourself inside and out. The more you cater to your body, the more you will feel amazing and empowered. Our inspirational fitness guru Shoya Clough shared her personal journey with gaining confidence through working out, and how she learned to love her body as it began to grow and blossom. I’ve always been a confident person. My single mom instilled in me the importance of self-love ever since as long as I can remember, and it created a thick skin of confidence. However, after I started working out I could see the changes occurring with my body and it was satisfying. My body was developing in a way that I never knew it could. I never knew that I could fall in love with myself—in the most non-egotistical kind of way. In everything we do as people, we strive to see the results. Whether it’s school, work, or in this case, working out, the positive results are gratifying. I started looking at myself naked, a lot. Something I seldom ever did before. I started paying attention to every curve and newly developed muscle on my body. I was proud of my hard work. People who knew me began pointing out my improved body and it enhanced my confidence. It’s not that I relied on their opinions of myself to feel good; instead it confirmed to me that I’m doing something right. The feeling was reminiscent of being in high school and making the honor roll. There my name stood printed clearly on the honor roll list in our school’s hallway for the world to see. It brought me pride and confidence, non different than what I feel in my toned body. It’s not a matter of superficial beauty. Rather, it’s the fulfillment of seeing how magical the human body is. Biologically, working out creates a feeling of euphoria. It decreases stress and the physical results add to the positive feel-good emotions. Medical professions typically mention exercise as an ideal way to advance one’s health, so why not be healthy and look good? Working out allowed me to experience my body from an alternate perspective. I began to see myself as being both mentally and physically strong. It’s hard to push your body to do things a part of you is too lazy to have it do. But you begin to win over your mind and it makes you feel stronger. The muscles are just the external reward of your determination. Working out makes you confident because you know you’ve earned your amazing body by sweating, maybe throwing up after a too-intense workout, overcoming lazy days and leg/squat days, dieting, and all that made you into the amazing lean machine that you are. We are given this one beautiful body that many of us neglect or abuse. I realize that making a lifestyle change to start and consistently workout doesn’t just affect me, but I inspire other women and men to give it a try. To me that’s amazing. I can’t believe that something I decided to do for myself would have any impact on anyone else. I’m more confident twenty-five pounds heavier than I was when I first started. Follow Shoya's fitness journey on her Instagram page @rudegyalskc How hard is it to get away especially when you have kids, roommates, or a significant other living with you? Very hard right? You owe it to yourself to have a little "me" time and enjoy peace while being in the comfort of your own home. It's not an easy task, but we found some ways to help you with that. Our amazing fitness expert Shoya Clough (IG: @rudegyalskc) shared some great tips on meditation and relaxation.
------ At-home meditation and relaxation is such a beneficial practice. It’s important for a person to get in tune with his/her inner-self, and the best way to do so is in a quiet, peaceful space in their home. If you can conquer your inner-person, then you can take control of your home, and then the outside world. I consider the mind to be another world; an entity far greater and more powerful than that of the physical world. One can deem that to be a spiritual statement, but every human being knowingly or unknowingly depend on a healthy spirit and right mindset. If we have those two things then we are able to persevere, stay positive, conquer fears, and develop peace. Those qualities can allow perspective to sway in a healthy direction. Two people can be in identical situations in life and have opposing perspectives, basically the whole glass half-full, half-empty reference. Peace and happiness aren’t traits that we obtain at birth. We obtain them through experiences in our youth (i.e. a happy childhood, fun activities), but as we grow older we need to choose to be happy and choose to have peace. That can be a bit difficult because it’s easy to get mentally worn out by our day-to-day life and the obstacles that we are faced with. We need to attend to our mental health. I suffered from generalized anxiety that snowballed into severe depression and it was the most difficult thing that I had to grow through. I’ve had hardships and been in difficult situations, but life was harder because my mind was cluttered with so much negativity and angst. I had to learn how to control my illness by controlling my thoughts, therefore conquering my depression, and then drastically lessening my anxiety. It wasn’t easy but I had to decide that I could. For those who have never suffered from a mental illness, practicing meditation and relaxation is still necessary. Here are a few things that helped me:
Our amazing fitness guru Shoya Clough provided some amazing tips on how to be confident in your own skin. It is easier said than done, but when you make the necessary steps towards bettering your self value the results will be monumental.
Shoya Clough--@rudegyalskc For some people confidence is a natural characteristic and for others it’s something they have to work very hard on. Nevertheless, self-confidence is based on both tangible and intangible components. For example, talent, skills, achievements, and external appearance work together to create very confident people. Personally, I try to keep both my external and internal person happy so that I may have a balanced and well—rounded perspective about myself. There are a few things that I’ve learned in my young life that has contributed to me being confident in my own skin, they are:
Follow Shoya Clough on Instagram for more amazing tips on living a better lifestyle! |