You Don't Have to LOVE Your Body Everyday

After recovering from a severe struggle with the appearance and shape of my own body, the immediate thought of mine, also a natural defense mechanism, was to push myself towards the complete opposite end which is to 'LOVE YOUR BODY' and try to stay as far away as I could to 'hate your body'. To be really honest, the founding of the BodyKind Project that you are reading this blog from right now, was born out of my deep dedication and conviction to promote for body positivity and that your body should always be LOVED.

However, reflecting back from now, my strong determination can sometimes make me appear to be overly inflexible, which is fundamentally the same with the unhealthy obsessions towards one's body image. I remember feeling extremely uncomfortable and betrayed when seeing my friends engage in conversations that seemingly goes against the mission of "LOVE YOUR BODY" that I deeply believe in and advocates for.

This is still the core mission and belief that I am living towards to, but I have also realized that finding the healthy balance between the two extremes is with same importance. For those who studied US History, this blog aims to introduce the concept of body neutrality, which is analogous to the American Founding Fathers in finding a middle ground between monarchy and anarchy.

Body Neutrality refers to "a mindset that shifts focus from how a body looks to what it can do" and serves as a middle ground between being overly preoccupied by your body image and the unduly forced body love.

We shouldn't evaluate a person whether they exhibit and believes in 'body positivity' or not. It is just important to remember that is is our natural tendency to shift from one side of wrestling with body image concerns to the other side of aspiring a complete acceptance of the way your body looks after recovery. Hence, the process to shift around the spectrum is crucial for recovery, where you would eventually be able to find your own middle ground that ultimately diverts our attention off the body as a subject!