What does it mean? It means being happy in your own body, appreciating what your body can do and celebrating your uniqueness.

Is that even possible when almost every image we see has been filtered or photoshopped to look like someone else’s idea of ‘perfection’?  Doesn’t everyone hate something about their body??

Believe it or not, no! There are loads of women and girls out there who have given up judging, hating and feeling shame about their bodies. You can too!

Body positivity might be hard to achieve every single day but you can take small steps regularly that can make a huge difference to your happiness and wellbeing.

1. Focus on what your body can do rather than how it looks and be grateful for that. Even just being able to move and dance is amazing. Focus on the things you can do rather than what you can’t. Are you strong? Flexible? Fit? Do you dance with beautiful arms and hands? Do you have stamina? Are you controlled and accurate with your movement? Start to appreciate the great things about how your body moves and what it can do.
2. Identify what you like about your appearance and choose to focus on that. (Come on, there must be something you like?) Do you like your eyes, your hair, your fingers, your calves, your smile? Forget about the things you can’t change (like your height for example) and be grateful for the good things you have inherited.
3. Be yourself. It’s okay to be unique. You don’t have to look like anyone else in this world. Let go of trying to be a carbon copy of another person, whether that’s a friend, a movie star or a model. Give yourself permission to be you.

Tomorrow we’ll talk about the language we use about other people’s bodies and how powerful that can be.