How do you build up your mental and emotional health? How do you cope with body image and disordered eating struggles?
I believe that it is very important to fill yourself up with encouragement, love, compassion, and healthy habits. I also believe that it is so important to surround yourself with beautiful, honest, loving people who will support you and encourage you.
One way that I love to surround myself with beautiful people and fill myself up with encouragement is by listening to podcasts and reading books!
I have found such support, beautiful coping mechanisms, relatable stories, and more in the words of others. One beautiful podcast that I love is We Can Do Hard Things by Glennon Doyle. She is a strong eating disorder warrior who is very honest and puts beautiful work out into the world! Her podcast covers every topic, including eating disorders, body image, boundaries, taking care of yourself well, and more.
One of her podcasts called “Our Bodies,” talks all about why we are at war with our bodies and how to start making peace with them. If you struggle with body image, confidence, or disordered eating, this is a beautiful podcast episode to listen to. Some beautiful points that she touches on in this podcast:
• How obsessing over our shape and size can cause us to end up missing different opportunities and the true beauty of life.
• How we have been taught to overthink and focus on every single physical aspect of our bodies – hair, weight, wrinkles, etc.
• Learning to appreciate your body for how it works and all that it does for you.
• How to stop conditioning girls and women to stay small and quiet when it comes to size, hunger, dreams, and desire.
• The scale, weight at the doctor’s office, and the bullshit of the BMI chart.
I loved this podcast episode and found it very helpful. I used to struggle a lot with my body image, my relationship with food, and feeling like I wasn’t measuring up to the ideal weight for my age, height, etc. Thankfully I have done a lot of healing and personal work and don’t struggle with these things like I used to.
Every now and then I have those lingering thoughts or those bad body image days, but it is so much easier for me to combat the lies and help myself through those moments now.
However, I understand these struggles, I used to struggle every single day, and it is so encouraging and helpful to hear other people talk about their struggles in an honest way. If you have a struggle, whether it’s your relationship with your body, your relationship with food, anxiety, depression, or something else, I would encourage you to surround yourself with honest people who have some of the same struggles. It is helpful to know that you are not alone and to hear different things that have helped them. No matter what, remember that you are worthy. And if you listen to this episode, let me know your thoughts!
Abby Horst
A podcaster, wife, health/wellness coach, beach lover, and musician. She specialises in nutrition education, meal planning, and developing sustainable habits. She passionately works with her patients to help them build healthier and happier relationships with food, exercise, and themselves.
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