If you didn’t know it already, your relationship with your body is a turbulent thing. One minute you’re looking in the mirror thinking that you look fine as hell, and the next minute you’ve fallen victim to society’s taunts that your skin isn’t clear enough/hair isn’t shiny enough/body isn’t trim enough (give us a break for god’s sake)! It doesn’t take much these days for our self-esteem to be crushed – here are 5 things that you shouldn’t let burst your body image bubble!A BAD ENDING TO A RELATIONSHIP

No matter how or why a relationship ends, your confidence is always going to take a knock. It’s important to know that whatever reason you’ve lost in love this time, it shouldn’t impact on how you feel about yourself. Your body shouldn’t be a topic of conversation, nor should it account for any part of a relationship coming to an end – not only this, but your ex partner should never, ever use your body or how you feel about it to attack you. Putting you down is a sure-fire way to hurt you, and remember that when a relationship ends badly, people are hurting – but that’s no excuse for slandering your self-esteem. Do not let the two become connected, don’t let a bad ending to a bad relationship burst your body image bubble.

SHITTY SIZING IN STORES

It’s common knowledge that wherever you shop, you’re likely to come up a different size – and some stores are really shitty when it comes to size consistency. It’s not easy to stay positive about your body when you’re having to upsize or downsize your outfits – but it’s high time that we stop putting so much emphasis on clothes sizes and what they ‘mean’ by society’s standards. We need to remember that clothes sizes don’t mean a thing, that when we are shopping we are shopping for what we like the look of on our bodies and that we need to stop putting pressure on ourselves to fit into clothes that are too big or small for us. Society has forced us to attached meaning and emotion to clothes sizes and it’s our job to detach ourselves from those emotions.

THE WORDS OF A STRANGER

This is probably one of the hardest things to not let burst your body image bubble. For a stranger to go out of their way and say something mean, there’s got to be a lot of negativity and ignorance there, and often when this happens, it sends us into a downward spiral of low self-esteem. I can’t tell you how to deal with someone saying something mean to you – but I can tell you that deep down, it doesn’t matter. I’ve had my fair share of spiteful comments thrown my way and these things stick with you, trust me, I know. But one thing that you can do when someone speaks to you this way, is to feel sorry for them, after all, there must be something really wrong in their life that makes them feel the need to lash out at a perfect stranger. They don’t get to decide how you feel about your body, only you can do that. Choose not to let their words sink in, and don’t let them burst your body image bubble.

THAT NEGATIVE VOICE INSIDE YOUR HEAD

Even more difficult than ignoring the words of strangers, is ignoring your own internal monologue. We are bound to be well-versed in self-deprecating comments, after all, we are plagued with external factors every day that perpetuate a negative body image – so it’s no surprise that we internalise these. But you’ve got to battle with it. That negative voice inside your head is born from the words and messages of others, of society, of family and friends who don’t know better. Do not let this voice get under your skin, and if it is already under your skin, then check out my post ‘7 Things You Can Do When Body Positivity Is Hard’, I think it’ll help.

GETTING CAUGHT IN A SOCIAL MEDIA TRAP

Picture this: you’re laying in bed scrolling through social media with a morning coffee and before you know it, you’re five weeks deep in someone else’s holiday to Thailand and they’re bronzed, sleek and having the time of your life. This is a recipe for disaster – especially when you put your phone down and try to pull yourself out of your Sunday funk whilst wearing last night’s make-up. Getting caught in a social media trap is bound to induce feelings of negativity, and we often fall victim to comparing ourselves to the lives of others. Whether it’s their bodies, lifestyles, holidays or social lives, we can’t help but feel down about the state of our own lives when making these comparisons. But listen up – your worth is not defined by the lives of others.