#bodposfeb

[morecatthanhuman]

Bodposfeb Day 7: Post a photo or quote up on your mirror that makes you feel confident. This is Hilda, the vintage "plus size" pinup figure. She is everything I aspire to be. She's sexy in a sweet, effortless, girl-next-door kind of way. She's light hearted and efforvescent, and rocks the hell out of a daisy chain bikini at an estimated size 16. #bodposfeb #bodypositivity #plussizepinup

[bad-assness]

#BODPOSFEB DAY ONE: Write about why do you want to do this challenge

I made this blog a couple years ago after a breakup that honestly messed up my life. I just dropped out college, I had no friends, my family stopped talking to me and my 'boyfriend' left me. I logged out of my tumblr account and made a new one, one where I wanted to see just positivity and pretty post so I made this blog. First it started with some happy blogs, some selfhelp blogs, mental health blogs. But then I discovered body positive blogs and then I started following feminist blogs, that's when I became a feminist, because I started to read and realize a lot of stuff and started to care about issues that were beyond my knowledge. I started to learn how to be a better person and accepting myself. This challenge is important for me because I found it just a couple of months after I made this blog, it helped me see a part of me that needed some love. It helped me overcome my fears about what my body was supposed to be like. Because I've always been self conscious about my looks and my weight, I've always been insecure about myself, but this made me love me even a little, because I started to see myself with love. Right now I'm in need of some self love and some confidence. There's been a lot of changes and I just need to be reminded that everything's ok as long as I'm ok with myself.

[uni-for-your-life]

Omg, I didn’t realise how close I was to my first 100 followers until just now! I still can’t believe people want to see my inner musings, but I suppose BodPosFeb and 100 Days of Productivity have helped with this increase. Thank you to each and every one of you!

[tossyoursocks]

#bodposfeb day 29

Well, we get an extra day of bodposfeb this year, and as I spent it being suddenly sick I took the opportunity to focus on listening to my body, giving it the food it wanted to make my tummy comfortable, hydrating it as much as I possibly could with tea and water, and giving it rest and cough drops and as much compassion as I could muster.

I still have a lot of difficult feelings regarding my body that I have to work out, but some body-acceptance gears are starting to turn in my brain, and I feel hopeful that, when I’m ready, I can make a significant change. Next year I will have graduated from college, and, wherever I end up, if I do this challenge again (I’d like to if I can) it will be interesting to see how both my starting points and my end points compare. And, of course, I will do my best to slowly integrate more self-directed body positivity into my life throughout the year!

[talesfromthegypsy-blog]

The last #bodposfeb Day 28 Write about what you have learned during this challenge: This is my 2nd consecutive year doing this challenge but my journey to a body positive life has been a long one. I genuinely mean it when I say it takes intentionality to undo years of brainwashing, as I battled with an eating disorder for nearly a decade of my life and suicidal thoughts as a child because I believed that I was too ugly to love. These things no longer plague me and I know that freedom is real. Low self-esteem is a prison. I've since come to view my body as my temple, my cozy safe peaceful home while My heart's still beating. I love myself, I love my body, and I am now unapologetically confident in myself. For me, the biggest milestone in my journey was when I gained weight over the holidays and my heart was so full of love and joy that I was perfectly content. I wasn't depressed or battling self-loathing, a common experience for me around the holidays. It was then I realized just how much progress I've made. I think it's important to acknowledge that weight loss is not the ultimate crowning achievement and weight gain isn't necessarily defeat. Weight fluctuates, bodies change, our cells are made new and we all regenerate. The ultimate win is a healthy mindset. My goal everyday is to be the kind of woman who would make me proud, and my hope is truly that this challenge will inspire and encourage someone else.

[tossyoursocks]

#bodposfeb day 28: Write about what you have learned during this challenge

I think one of the main reasons I have body image problems is that, even though I’ve always believed that it’s what’s on the inside that counts and it’s not my job to look pretty for others and all of that, over time I have lost hope for myself and the future, and I feel like the more “meaningful” parts of life can’t exist for me. I don’t feel like I have any value as a person in any of the ways that count, and I feel despair and hopelessness when I think about relying on them for my self worth. So I focus on my body instead - if I can’t be those other things, maybe I can make myself more attractive (or make less of me) and thus somehow less of a piece of garbage to the rest of the world. The problem is that external beauty and thinness are completely insufficient as a replacement, in my situation are unattainable in ways that don’t hurt me, and in fact get in the way of my recovery from depression. The way for me to feel better is to work on having compassion and hope for myself and for the world. If I can truly feel like I have worth as a human, I am sure that my body image will improve because good enough really will be good enough and I will be able to appreciate what my body has to offer without being disappointed by imperfection.

[uni-for-your-life]

BodPosFeb Day 28

Write about what you have learnt during this challenge

I am who I am. My body is what it is. I have struggled with self-esteem and associated difficulties growing up, but now I know that my body is how it is, and it is perfect, because it’s mine. I know I will have my bad days, but everyone does. I will bounce back quicker now that I love my body a little more. Loving yourself is a learning process, and this challenge has greatly accelerated my learning, for which I am thankful.

Thank you to @hourglassandclass for starting this challenge and making many people on Tumblr love themselves even a tiny bit more over this past month.

[uni-for-your-life]

BodPosFeb Day 27

Write yourself a body positive promise for the future

I promise myself that I will be less ashamed of the size of my body when around people with smaller bodies. They are just bodies, and I need to remember that.