I teamed up with a bunch of my fellow blogging friends to bring you tips on how to gain more body confidence as well as many other important and helpful aspects of being a teen. This is a big collaboration that is focused on balancing life as a teen girl! Each of us is posting topics that are related to being a teen girl and balancing life!  Grace from Prime Eleven will be posting about finding your style,  Abigail from Teenlogs will be talking about periods, Patrycja from Pati-Cool will be sharing how to balance life and school as a teen, I will be sharing insight on body image and some tips to help you love yourself, Lauren from Laurellandco will be telling us all about being confident, and Shannon from The Untamed Optimist will be showing us how to stay organized as a full-time blogger! I will be talking about how to be confident in your own skin!

What is Body Confidence

Body confidence is feeling good about yourself and your body. This is something everyone can work on. While I do have photos of myself on my Instagram and my blog – that doesn’t mean I think I look perfect. I used to have this thing where I would refuse any photos of me with my feet in it. Due to my scoliosis, my back is very different looking than most. It makes fitting into clothes challenging. In addition to that, my hips are uneven. So that makes one of my legs longer than the other. Oftentimes, when I walk, I look like I limp. It is noticeable to others. 

What has impacted my confidence?

Sometimes people comment on it to me in person-even strangers. For example, one time I was walking with my friends and some random older guy asked if I was okay. I assume he saw my limp and he wanted to know what happened. However, that is just how I walk. That was years ago, so back then, I was too scared to say anything back. It also is not just in person where I get comments and questions about my appearance. In 2017, I received an Instagram direct message after posting a photo of my back on the beach. The message read: what’s wrong with your back ?? Truthfully, that did hurt. I know it is noticeable in person, but I didn’t think people on social media would point it out. 

Learning to love myself & Be Confident

Despite all this, you know what all those things that we are insecure about actually can have a positive impact too. Our differences in our body, whether that be scars, a different gait, limb difference, etc,  it makes us who we are. My differences tell a story. A story of a girl that’s been through millions of surgeries and medical complications. Your body does represent you. So I am giving you permission to embrace it . 

How to gain body confidence

Yes, there will be days where you aren’t happy with your body. It’s okay. Everyone has one of those days and not everyone is gonna love their body all the time & that’s okay! I suggest you find a feature that you like about yourself. It could be anything, maybe it’s your eyes and working on perfecting your eyeliner or eyeshadow to make them pop. Whatever it is, try to focus on that. Once you do that maybe it will get you to realize the good things and stop dreading the bad. Your body does not determine your beauty. You are beautiful for your thoughts. You are beautiful because of the sparkle in your eyes and the smile on your face. Your laugh is beautiful. Your flaws are the most beautiful — the most perfect thing about you is that you’re so very imperfect and you shouldn’t need to try to fit into society’s standards because they are unrealistic.

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Unfollow people on Social Media

You might be shocked at how much of a difference it makes. Every time you see a post that makes you feel bad about your body, hit the unfollow button. If it’s somebody you know in real life and you feel bad unfollowing them then just hide their posts instead. More on this topic from my post on social media here.

Focus on what you can do

So much time is used to focus on the things our body can’t do that we forget about the amazing things it can do. When you exercise, don’t think about how many calories your burned, instead celebrate how hard your body worked and what it achieved during your workout.

Find out what makes you-you!

Write a list of 10 things you love about yourself and attach it up somewhere you will see it every day. The more you read this list of things to like, the more positively you’ll feel about yourself. You are a wonderful person and the sooner you admit that, the better.

Don’t focus on numbers from the scales

Yes, it’s good to be healthy, but your mental health is important too. If the numbers on the scales are making you feel bad and think negatively about yourself and your body then I am here to say to you: stop looking at them. You are more than those numbers, so much more. If you want to improve your health, you can do that and you don’t need a scale. Besides, it is unhealthy to always be focusing on the numbers anyway.

Take care of your body

Don’t say anything unkind about it. Lift it with words and praise. Take it for a spa day, treat it to a massage, or a warm bath at the end of a hard day. Start being kind to yourself every day.

Dress to impress

It’s all too easy to hide a body you don’t love in sweats and dull clothes. Throw open your wardrobe doors and pick out your most colorful, fun items of clothing. Dress up in a dress you wouldn’t wear normally. Your body is beautiful, and it deserves to wear clothes that shimmer and glitter and light up rooms.

I hope this give you some insight and direction on how to be more confident. Don’t worry it takes time and it will always be a work on progress!

Check out the other girl’s posts!

Abigail from Teenlogs	Periods
Shannon from The Untamed Optimist	Staying Organized as a Blogger
Patrycja from Pati-Cool	Balancing life & school as a teen
Lauren from Laurellandco	Confidence
Grace from Prime Eleven	Finding Your style

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