8 WAYS TO DEAL WITH BAD BODY IMAGE DAYS

‘How do I deal with this’, she asked, tears rolling down her face

‘Change nothing’, he replied, ‘you are perfect as you are’.

Choose comfort: big cosy jumpers, your favourite floaty dress. This is not about hiding. But instead accepting you feel uncomfortable in your body today.
Choose to nourish yourself anyways - what harmed you does not heal you too - undernourishing can further fuel the belief and trigger negative eating behaviours.
Honour what your body does for you: make a list.
We love the things we care for: spend an extra moment in the shower, use the fancy moisturiser, exfoliate, paint your nails, rest more, read a book. Be gentle and kind with yourself.
Do the things that make you remember that life is bigger than your body: skateboard in the sun, laugh with friends, ETC
Speak to yourself in facts. For example, rather than ‘I am fat’, you might say, ‘I have fat’: which we all do. It is essential for being alive.
Is this your default? Is negative self talk and a ‘bad body day’ a habitual voice? A means of coping with other emotions?
Remember you are not your thoughts. They WILL pass. Brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor writes about this,‘Within 90 seconds the chemical component of my anger has completely dissipated from my blood and my automatic response is over.’ Aka: what keeps us ‘there' is continuing to let the circuit run; overthinking, fighting or trying to fix the emotion, and repeating the stories we tell ourselves.