It’s pretty tough to be a fan of your body nowadays with so many pictures of skinny and flawless women circulating on the internet. It is easy to assume that there is something wrong with you or your body since you look so much different from the version society reveres as perfect but believe me, body positivity is worth it – it is important to love yourself enough by acknowledging your flaws as well as your strengths. Here are 6 reasons to embrace yourself and be body positive today:

1. It’s the only body you have & it’s only you that has this body.

You need to remember that firstly, you’re the only one who’s got a body like the one you have and something that does not come in dozens is always priceless! Secondly, you have to realize that even if you don’t like your body now, you’ll be living with it forever, it’s the only body you have and it will go through everything with you – that being said, do you really want to spend so much of your precious life not being okay with something so great?

2. You can’t live your whole life fighting something that is beautiful.

Life throws a lot of curveballs your way as it is; not loving your body will not add just 1 extra problem but actually, it will bring with it, a load of other issues like low self esteem, poor confidence and depression.  These issues can scar you for a lifetime and that’s no way to live when we already have other problems. Life is all about your battle against the world. It should not be you fighting yourself and leading a path to self destruction.

3. Being at peace with your body allows you to love yourself, making it easier for you to love others.

There are many women and men out there who have strong dislike for the way their bodies look and how they feel about it. If they are single, they often wonder and worse, blame that fact on their bodies; assuming that their bodies are what caused them to be without companionship, that their bodies are too ugly or imperfect to be loved. And that leads to poor confidence and low self esteem issues which makes dating and having relationships a lot harder. This vicious cycle just goes on and on – stopping one from realizing their true self worth. Loving yourself makes it much easier to love others.

4. Being at peace with your body also allows you to be stronger and not governed by what others have to say.

While being open-minded and listening to the thoughts and opinions that come from other people is important, it is rarely necessary to consider foreign opinion when it concerns your body. It is your body in question and you are responsible to care for it, love it and ultimately, take ownership of it. Once you have built confidence, you need to strengthen that confidence to ensure that harsh comments or criticism disguised as suggestions don’t break that confidence you worked so hard on building. Part and parcel of confidence is knowing when people’s opinions matter about your body (like when a doctor is giving professional medical advice) and when you should adopt a “who gives a fuck” attitude to those comments (relatives and members of the opposite sex that are either insensitive or just plain rude).

5. Your body doesn’t deserve all the hate you’re channeling to it – Just look at all the amazing things your body can do!

You’ve got a body that walks, talks and takes you places. It remembers every new face you say hi to and every street and alley you pass. It recognizes the scent of an old friend and the one of your favourite food in the microwave. It makes clothes come alive and it changes perceptions. It contains parts of your parents and other parts that are unique only to yourself. It is your identity and that’s nothing to be ashamed of.

6. This is the body whose parts and bits your future children will inherit, if you know you’ll love them, how can you not love you?

For those who plan to have children, I’m sure you’d love them to bits. And those kids will be a large part of you, not just your heart. They’ll be a reflection of you, showing you how your eyes look when you’re really sleepy and the way your chunky things and knock knees twist up when you really need to use the bathroom. They’ll show you just how beautiful your curly hair is when it’s a heaping mess while you sleep and how your face lights up at the sound of apple pie. It’s easy to love them isn’t it?
It’s easy to love yourself too.