I love to read the blog Simple Mom. I think it’s a beautiful blog that offers tons of great advice for motherhood. Except that I don’t have kids. And I’m not even married (but I do have a longtime boyfriend who’s the love of my life…aww, I know). Anyway, I just love it.

Last week I was reading an interesting post that got me thinking about body image.

In a post on stress, Tsh, editor of Simple Mom, discussed whether stress is a choice. She writes:

l’ll readily admit it: We’ve had a tough year. A semi-complicated pregnancy, health issues for our middle son, and a sudden, unplanned international move has made the past seven months — well, a doozy.

My emotions have been all over the place, but even in the midst of the highs and the lows, the near-constant feeling I’ve had for awhile is stress.

Which is why it hit me like an anvil to the head when I read this a week ago [from -John G. Miller, QBQ! The Question Behind the Question]:

“Stress is a choice. Do you buy that? Some people have a hard time with the idea. …Yes, bad things happen: The economy sours, our business struggles, the stock market tumbles, jobs are lost, people around us don’t follow through, deadlines are missed, projects fail, good people leave. Life is full of these. But still, stress is a choice because whatever the ‘trigger event,’ we always choose our own response. We choose to react angrily. We choose to stuff our emotions and keep quiet. We choose to worry. …Stress is a choice.”

I’ve never thought of stress as a choice. In fact, I always thought that stress is something that happens to you, that you have to deal with – not a reaction that we consciously make, definitely not a conscious decision.

But it makes sense. And I think negative body image is also a choice.

I do think negative body image is a combination of factors. Like most other things, it includes genetic factors (e.g., a predisposition toward perfectionistic thinking or anxiety; your body size and shape) and the environment (e.g., being teased for your appearance, having family members who encouraged you to diet, wanting to be thinner because of the media’s unrealistic skinny standards).

You also might have a long list of why your body image is negative. Mine used to be as follows:

1. Not skinny enough

2. Not toned or muscular enough

3. Need flatter stomach

4. Wish I had better hair (OK, still do)

5. Must be smaller in general

But while we might be predisposed and nurtured to have a negative body image that doesn’t mean that we have to succumb to it. In other words, even though we might feel like our negative body image is an automatic and legitimate response or that we have a litany of reasons for our lack of self-acceptance – like stress – our body image is still a choice.

We can choose how we react to others, not letting anyone’s misguided criticism or biting remarks get to us. We can choose to ignore magazines that make us feel bad about ourselves. Not to buy them. Not to read them. And not to subscribe to their philosophies. We can choose to work on our perfectionism and become more flexible. And we can choose to have a more positive body image, to delve into the reasons why we just can’t accept ourselves – and find solutions – and to take better care of ourselves.

Just like Tsh from Simple Mom says she’ll strive to stay calm, I think we can strive to see ourselves more positively right now, this very second, just the way we are. Here’s a list of body image boosters.

Today’s fave post. “Meet Ashley from the Nourishing Soul,” a guest post at Honoring Health.

Do you think negative body image is a choice? How will you choose to see yourself more positively?

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From Psych Central's website:
PsychCentral (August 11, 2010)

From Psych Central's website:
PsychCentral (August 11, 2010)

From Psych Central's website:
10 Ways to Kickstart a Positive Body Image | Weightless (August 13, 2010)

    Last reviewed: 11 Aug 2010