Body positivity is an interesting topic, especially when we want to remind ourselves of how self-confidence is important without neglecting health advice concerning our body and without allowing body positivity to harm us or others.
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It's surprising to know that some people went into depression because they were body-shamed. In this era body-shaming is becoming such a common attitude of people to their fellow humans, using their mouths to hurt each other's feelings, and some of these victims feel less of themselves because of what you said to them. They feel inferior about themselves and what have you.
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I used to remind some persons who are always feeling low about themselves due to the way they look that we are all beautifully and wonderfully created by God. Do not say otherwise about yourself or allow people to body-shame you anyhow, and you accept it, then carry that in your mentality to be eating you up silently. I believe everyone takes care of their body, and we should love ourselves. Some weird, mean comments shouldn't overrule what we feel about ourselves, which should be positive and confident.
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Some statements like "You are too fat, you are too slim, you have bad-looking acne, big pimples on your face, stretch marks", and all of that—does it really change who you are? Personally I am comfortable, positive, and proud of my body; you can't tell me otherwise no matter the imperfections in my skin, and I accept that to eat me up negatively. That's where self-love comes in, because if I don't love the way I am, it's almost impossible for me to expect love from others.
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Having said that, body positivity is about accepting the uniqueness of who we are, whether slim, fat, dark, tall, short, etc., and feeling comfortable and positive with you as a person, like no man's business.
But...
I wouldn't deny the fact that body positivity can get toxic at a point and even harm us. You know, the way we are so positive about ourselves can actually affect us negatively if we approach issues wrongly. Let me give a practical example here. I have a cousin who is obese. She is in her early 50s now, suffering some kind of health issues, including high blood pressure. Doctors already gave her advice to work on her body weight to lose it so she can be healthier.
The only thing she did was a little morning exercise just within the period she received the advice and stopped thereafter. The next thing she started singing like a song was that "I own myself, I love myself the way I am, no stress, and I can eat whatever I want". She lives in my father's house even to date, and I can tell you that she eats wrongly more than every other person not suffering her health condition. Like she's careless, and it's beginning to worsen her health issues.
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You see, body positivity in her case is only endangering her health, yet she shuts her ears to that.
Overall, however we are is a gift from God, but we should make a better choice that would help us live healthier while embracing our body positivity.
***Images were taken from canva***
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