Appreciating Your Body Without Thinking About Your Body
Written by Katie Butler
The Body Banter project aims to promote the much-needed but often underrepresented message of acceptance and positivity for all bodies. Unfortunately, these truths are often drowned out by societal beliefs that revere thinness and applaud weight loss.
While I have been incredibly honored to be part of such an incredible project, I have also felt inadequate or “not influential enough” to make a change. Having made it to the “other side” of diet culture, where I have finally begun to see the flimsy, unsubstantiated, and often harmful nature of its promises that thinness equates to happiness, all I want is for everyone to know the truth. However, diet culture is so normalized in our society that for most people, it’s extraordinarily hard to leave that kind of mindset.
Because of this frustration, I stopped focusing my efforts on spreading body positivity/acceptance. Because I found myself focusing on my own body less and less, I didn’t think that I was “qualified” to talk about body image. I wondered to myself, “How can I talk about body image when I haven’t even been focusing on my body?!” Little did I know that it was precisely this question that would lead me to an epiphany:
When we constantly fixate on how we look and when we compare ourselves to other people, all of our energy is invested in that process of comparison, leaving little to no time for other facets of our lives.
I get it, it’s a hard thing to quit cold turkey, and I find myself being lured back into the comparison game every now and then too. But I want to challenge you to be more conscious of the times you feel happy, when you aren’t thinking about your body. Because that’s when it matters the most.
Some examples could be spending time with your loved ones, listening to your favorite artists, or playing a sport with some friends.
—
My “ah-ha!” moment happened a couple months ago. I had my first ever public art display and held an opening reception for friends to view some of my artwork. Before the reception, I felt anxious because I didn’t feel “pretty,” even though I had dressed up. I wanted to take pictures with whoever came, but I was afraid I would look “bad” in the photos.
Once people started showing up, however, I no longer cared about how I looked. Instead of fixating on my body, I got to enjoy the evening with incredible friends who came out to support my work.
If I allow myself to live in the present, doing the things I love and surrounding myself with good company, then the time left to focus on my body’s appearance diminishes tremendously.
My friends: we are not just bodies. Yes, we have bodies, but how they look not determine our worth.
I encourage you to think of your body as a vessel for your life - one that carries you from place to place and from person to person; one that works incredibly hard to keep you alive.
Author Jes Baker wraps this up so perfectly. She says:
Confidence and resiliency when it comes to accepting your body has nothing to do with your body at all. They have everything to do with actively working toward becoming the best person you can be.
About Katie
Katie was one of our previous Banter-bassadors and is a recent graduate from Belmont University in Nashville, TN. Since middle school, she has struggled with poor body image and disordered eating. Only recently has she begun making significant strides towards healing. Throughout this journey, she has become very passionate about learning, understanding & educating health as it pertains to food, self-perception, exercise, and cultural influence. This space will serve as a reflective and artistic outlet, for herself and others, in hopes of reaching anyone who may need it.
“I Banter because everybody and every body deserves healing. I believe that by sharing our experiences, we can become more empathetic, compassionate, and stronger individuals.”