by Madison Max, LCPC, RYT-200
The summer seasons can often hold a lot of responsibility for some of us (especially us Chicago locals who only get about 2-3 months of warm weather a year!). For some, summer may represent relaxation, fun of going to the beach with friends, taking a vacation with your family, or roaming around the city exploring new rooftops and outdoor patios. For others, summer time may be anxiety provoking, uncomfortable, and can escalate one’s distress and urges to feed into the “beach body ready” mentality. Now, this isn’t to say that it is necessarily wrong or bad to want to look and feel good in a bathing suit or summer clothing, however, chasing an unrealistic ideal body image often goes hand in hand with some harmful and negative consequences such as intense body dissatisfaction, feelings of shame and guilt, low self worth, increase in depression and anxiety symptoms, social isolation, perfectionistic tendencies, and repetitive negative thoughts about self and one’s body[1] just to name a few.
There are a variety of ways one can get sucked into feeding the negative body image monster (engaging with self deprecating thoughts, avoiding social situations that involve being aware of our body, comparing our body to someone else’s, restricting certain foods to obtain a thinner body, etc). It can feel overwhelming and sometimes even helpless to gain some distance from this tug of war battle with our body image, especially during the summer time where there are constant reminders of how our body “is not right”.
Although there is no magic wand to combat this battle of challenging the “beach body” mentality, there are ways one can begin to become more “psychologically flexible”[2] around how we are interacting with our body image experience.
1. Lean into your experience of being present in your body
We spend so much effort trying to pull away from experiencing being in our bodies. Increasing awareness of being aware of our body can absolutely be overwhelming and intimidating at times; however, it can also be a great guide to what we are trying to escape from. We often will do one of two things when struggling with body image distress: we will either avoid experiences/thoughts/emotions that involve having to be aware of our body or we will hyper-focus on our body’s biggest flaw. Whichever path we decide to take, both usually end with us feeling disappointed in ourselves for once again never being able to reach that “beach body” ideal. Although these tactics may feel good at the moment, continuing to pull away from our bodies will just continue to increase the divide, pulling us farther away from understanding our experience in our body and what we need.
There is no “perfect” way to begin practicing this skill of being present, however, a great place to start could be to simply pause and ask yourself “what sensations am I feeling in my body right now?” or exploring ways you might be avoiding being present in your body (avoiding being in pictures, not going to certain social events, using clothing to cover up a “flaw” on your body you are worried others will see, etc).
2. “Taking hold of your awareness and moving it with intention”
As previously mentioned, intentionally bringing awareness to our body can be overwhelming. Being present does not necessarily mean we have to wrap ourselves in a body image awareness blanket filled with our deepest fears and judgements of ourselves… Rather, it can be an opportunity to empower ourselves around our body image experience; shifting our awareness intentionally and mindfully can allow us space to take back control of our own individual experiences. We live in a society that is constantly dictating where and when our awareness shifts around how we should feel in our bodies or what our bodies should look like.
As much as we all wish some of these images, advertisements, stigmas, etc could just go away…we cannot control it. However, we do have control of how much we are engaging with it/giving space to these things that seem to only increase our hatred and disappointment towards our body. Next time you notice yourself mindlessly scrolling through social media and comparing your body to the hottest celebrity or entertaining a negative thought about your body, ask yourself “is there something else I can shift my awareness to that could be a more effective use of my time/more enjoyable use of my time?”. One example could be shifting your awareness to focusing on being in a room filled with people you love rather than focusing on whether you picked out the right shirt for your body type.
3. Reframing thoughts through body neutrality
We love to say negative things about ourselves, especially when it comes to our bodies. Talking negatively about our bodies has become so habitual to the point where we might not even realize how often we are being mean to ourselves. When it comes to talking about our bodies, we are quick to focus on the vanity of our body and how “bad” it is due to not fitting into the ideal “beach body ready” mentality. We often forget that our bodies are more than just something to look at. For starters, our bodies help us to live and function everyday! We spend so much time hating our bodies for not looking a certain way, that we forget how much our bodies do for us on a daily basis. Again, we can practice shifting our awareness to focusing on a more flexible perspective when experiencing pressures to live up to the “beach body ready” mentality. Try shifting your focus on the things your body does for you, how it functions for you, what it gives you (my arms are used to hug the people I love, my legs help me to walk with my spouse for a few examples). Reframing a negative body image thought by no means will make someone magically feel better about their body; however, it can open up another door of opportunity for one to travel down when experiencing body image distress or feeling pressured to give into fatphobic/diet culture trends.
Sources
Kearney‐Cooke, A., & Tieger, D. (2015). Body image disturbance and the development of eating disorders. In L. Smolak & M. D. Levine (Eds.), The Wiley Handbook of Eating Disorders (pp. 283-296).
West Sussex, UK: WileySandoz, E. & DuFrene, T. (2013). Living With Your Body & Other Things You Hate: How to let go of your struggle with body image using acceptance and commitment therapy. New Harbinger Publications Inc.
