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Body positivity is the attitude of instilling a positive mindset that everyone, including yourself, needs to have a good view of their body. This trait can help you to be more accepting and loving yourself as you are.

Body positivity is nothing new. In the 1960s, body positivity became a form of resistance to discrimination against people who have a fat body. Then, this trend came back boom in 1996 to educate people to be comfortable with their bodies and not to force themselves to go on extreme diets.

This attitude has continued to develop since 2012 and often implied on social media. Now, the meaning of body positivity is not only focused on challenging the stereotypes of beauty standards, but also expanded to instill the mindset that the whole body is good and beautiful in all its uniqueness.

Benefits of Body Positivity

The main benefit of body positivity is to break the unrealistic beauty standardsand invite everyone to accept and love themselves, regardless of skin color and hair color and size and body shape.

Some other benefits that can also be obtained from implementing body positivity, namely:

• Training a person to accept the changes in the body that occur with age or due to certain conditions, such as pregnancy, breastfeeding, or certain diseases
• Inviting everyone not to judge others based on their gender, race and appearance
• Not obsessed with changing appearance just to look "perfect" in the eyes of others
• Building self-confidence
• Able to respect yourself
• Preventing the treatment of body shaming, for example fat shaming

When someone is unable to meet the ideal body and beauty standards that exist in society or social media, some of them may be stressed and embarrassed because they feel they are less attractive.

Not only that, they might even be able to take it out on bad habits, such as consuming alcoholic beverages. Worse yet, this stress and lack of self-confidence can also have an impact on their mental health.

This is because people who do not appreciate their body shape or feel stressed and inferior because they think their bodies are less attractive are more at risk for certain mental disorders, such as eating disorders or depression. Well, by implementing body positivity, these things can be prevented.

How To Do Body Positivity

Body positivity indeed invites us all to accept and love ourselves. However, this is often misunderstood as an excuse to not take care of yourself and stop caring about your body, as well as being a prohibition to change yourself.

That's not right, is it? Body positivity invites you to remain confident regardless of the condition of your body, regardless of the standard of appearance and physique that is still inherent in society, not recommending you not to take care of yourself at all let alone not to care about your own body.

Well, to instill body positivity, you can try the following methods:

1. Change your mindset

"Try my skin is white, I must be beautiful." Come on, how often does this phrase come to your mind? If it's often, then from now on, slowly change your mindset to be more positive, okay.

Remember that beauty is subjective. Maybe for you your skin color or body shape is less attractive, but not everyone has the same opinion, you know.

You'll notice, exotic skin tones are much preferred and have their own charm in America. This is because beauty standards in each country and culture are different.

2. Understand that beauty is not only physical

The meaning of beauty is not only seen from physical beauty. Beauty from within (inner beauty), such as intelligence, politeness, elegance, sense of humor, and character or identity, can also make someone have their own charm.

So, instead of just focusing on your physical form, it's better to make yourself valuable and look stunning by realizing the strengths that you already have inside of you.

3. Perform health-focused self-care

Take care of yourself not only to look "perfect" in the eyes of others, yes, but so that your health is maintained and you can feel comfortable with your own body.

The simplest but most important form of self-care is to live a healthy lifestyle, for example by regularly eating healthy and nutritious foods, exercising regularly, and getting enough rest.

You can also maintain the health and beauty of your skin by taking proper skin care, for example by regularly cleaning your skin and face, using moisturizers, and wearing sunscreen to prevent exposure to free radicals that can harm the skin.

4. Stay away from things that make you uncomfortable

We can't control what other people say and do, but we all have the right to live our lives the way we want. So, if there are things that make you feel uncomfortable, stay away from those things.

Unfollow social media accounts that make you feel inferior, be it because of negative and toxic comments or because of hateful opinions. You can also limit your friendship with those who can't appreciate and accept you for who you are.

Instilling body positivity is not an easy matter. Moreover, until now, certain standards of physique and appearance still exist in society. However, with strong belief and proper understanding of body positivity, you can definitely do it, how!

If you still have difficulties in doing body positivity, especially if you feel inferior about your body shape, are stressed, or hate yourself, don't hesitate to consult a psychologist, okay? You can tell how you feel so a psychologist can help you deal with it.

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