Make Peace With Your Body

Simply put, life is way too short to spend time criticizing your own looks. Of course, stopping that negative self-talk is easier said than done. We’re here to help.

- Brittany Burke

YOU’D HAVE TO BE LIVING UNDER A ROCK not to know that body positivity is a hot topic. From curvy influencers embracing their physiques on social media to brands like Nike introducing fuller-figured mannequins, there have been major cultural strides in accepting women of all shapes and sizes. This is a really good thing. But it can also create a tricky dynamic.

Traditionally in the United States, there has been just one body-type ideal—and that ideal is thin, explains Kathleen Bishop, a licensed clinical social worker and founder of Body Peace and Liberation in San Jose, California. Women who don’t meet that standard often feel like they’ve failed. So as nice as it is to be told you should love the way you look, it’s hard to simply shake off years of negative thoughts about your body. In fact, now there are lots of women feeling like double failures— feeling like they’re failing because they aren’t that cultural ideal and failing because they aren’t feeling body- positive.

The good news: There is a solution. Some experts say rather than body positivity, we should all be striving for peace. “Body peace is more about coexisting with your body and viewing it as more functional than aesthetic,” says Bishop. If body positivity is the finish line, body peace is the marathon course—it’s a process, and one that has a lot of twists and turns. “Body peace isn’t loving your body every day,” adds Kristina Taylor, a licensed mental health counselor with the Growth & Recovery Counseling Center in Trinity, Florida. “It’s recognizing that our bodies are a minute part of who we are as a whole person—and not letting them take up more space in our minds than they deserve.”