5 Things I Did During a Really Challenging Body Image Week

Because, even after years of healing, they can still creep up—and they still feel scary and challenging to navigate.

“Is this going to last forever??” (David After Dentist, anyone?!) That’s what I think when I find myself in these challenging body image phases. It honestly feels like it’s never going away, and that familiar fear creeps in that I’ll get stuck in this loop.

Luckily, thanks to a hefty amount of therapy and ongoing healing work, I have many tools in my toolbox that I use to manage all the feels that come up during times like this.

And, in an effort to share more authentically and openly with you as I move through my healing journey, I wanted to give you a few of the super practical things I did as I moved through this really difficult body image week.

(I shared them over on Instagram in a quick post, and want to get them in front of my community here because the more tools we have, the better we can ALL move through these hard moments.)

If you’re looking for more strategies for your next challenging body image day/week/whatever, here’s what I did all last week. I hope some of this can support you, too.

What do you do on your challenging body image days? Comment with your go-to strategy! I’m always looking for new ideas.

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1. Regularly (multiple times a day), I remind myself that being small is NOT the goal. I literally say in my head: “Remember, being small is not our goal anymore. We don’t need to be small to be loved, worthy, and successful.”

2. Think of the incredible people who I follow on Instagram who remind me that body size is not important. (Some of my faves:

Molly Tranchin

(@fashionveggie), @honeyboom1015, @jeannetteyconfettii)

3. Lean heavily into trusting my body and its many fluctuations and cycles. My body fluctuates throughout the month (like MOST women’s bodies) and that’s okay. That means I’m ALIVE. That’s a pretty damn good thing.

4. Wear clothes that make me feel 100% comfortable and therefore, more confident and less focused on my body. I literally changed a pair of sweatpants that felt too tight on my belly. No shame in my comfort game.

5. Remember that the shape and size of my body have nothing to do with the incredible life I live and the moments I get to experience, like our beautiful evening on the boat tonight (which the photo above is from). To my toddler, this body is home and love and safety, no matter what it looks like.

Bonus: Oh, and lots and lots and lots (and lots) of compassion. Healing those old beliefs, while diet culture and the obsession with thinness are stronger than ever, is really f*cking hard. This work is not for the faint of heart and takes continual effort and intention.

Please, please be compassionate with yourself when that critical voice gets loud. This takes work (lord knows, I’ve done a lot of work on this.) But it’s a skill that can absolutely be learned. I even had a conversation with the wonderful Becca Post about this in Season 1: Where Did All the Compassion Go? (We’re Bringing it Back!)

My final strategy: take it one day at a time, work through the feelings and doubts and anxieties, knowing that you’ll eventually have more good days than bad if you keep working at it. I promise.

Until next time, loves -
Jess