Let's Talk About: Body Confidence

Hello!

You may have already read my first 'Let's Talk About' post which was all about antidepressants, if you haven't then get on it now. So for this post, I am going to be talking about body confidence and my experience with it. 

Just like my first post in this series, everything I write is just my own personal opinions or talking about my own experiences. I want to use this series as an opportunity to start a conversation and to really get things off my chest sometimes. The more people talk about how they feel, the easier some situations can get.

The inspiration behind this post came after comments made by Edwina Currie regarding the size 14 model, Ashley Graham. Edwina felt the need to call out Ashley Graham and plus size models by claiming that they are promoting obesity. Her comments annoyed me, so I posted a tweet about it all. However, this ended up in a full debate with some strangers. I was told by one of them that by being a size 14, I am promoting obesity, diabetes and that you never seen ‘runners’ at a size 14. 

What annoyed me the most about this debate was the fact that some people out there seem to think they can judge another person’s health and lifestyle based on their dress size? Not everyone who is say, a 14, has the same body shape as each other. You will also find you might be a 14 in one shop but a totally different size in another.  

When it comes to my experience with body confidence, it has been a bit up and down. For most of my teenage years, I was fairly slim. I didn’t have much in the way of boobs and a bum which made me feel quite self-conscious growing up. Then puberty and contraceptive pills entered my life and I found my figure changing in so many ways. I had a lot of ‘junk in the truck’, my thighs got larger, my  boobs decided it was time to make an appearance and I ended up with big old hips with a small waist. At first I was really happy that I had an hour glass shape but the older I got, the more weight I started to put on and my confidence started to dip. 

I found myself feeling a little lost with myself. I started to avoid wearing jeans or trousers and just stuck to hiding my legs under skirts and dresses with tights. In a world where the media wants us to love thigh gaps, I felt ugly with the fact my thighs touched. I started to call myself fat and ugly just because of the fact my dress size was going up. 

Starting blogging helped me find my confidence and personal style again. I realised that my body is what it is and I should love it, flaws and all. Yes I may not be as slim I was when I was 14 but when it comes down it I realised how much happier I was at this time of my life. I'm not going to let some flabby old thighs and belly get me down. Once my confidence started to grow, I started wearing jeans again and I even bought some disco pants. 

If someone like Edwina wants to refer to me as plus size, it’s not going to phase me but her comments can cause issues for a lot of women out there. Firstly because, I personally wouldn't say a 14 is a plus size and even if it was and why does she have to make that sound like its negative thing?

I've seen a lot of plus size bloggers in the past being accused of promoting an ‘unhealthy lifestyle’ but all I see is women being proud of their body and showing confidence. This is something I want to see more, regardless of what size you are. We should be showing younger people, that we all have different bodies and that is a good thing. 

Body shaming is not cool at all. People like Edwina should maybe spend more time concentrating on her own happiness, rather than caring about what another person’s body looks like and trying to tear them down.

So take some time out of your morning routine, look in a mirror at yourself. Yes you may notice and point out the parts you don’t like but look beyond that. Look at all the amazingness of your body and unique it is to you. Regardless of what you weigh, your dress size or even what your health is like, that’s your body and you can whatever you damn well please to it. 

Till the next time!

X