What Type of Relationship Are You in With Your Body?
Thomas Cash said, “Body image consists of your personal relationship with your body—encompassing your perceptions, beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and actions that pertain to your physical appearance.”
Body image is a relationship!
I learned this concept in Perfectly Imperfect by Amy Harman and it’s intriguing to me. Here are some examples of types of relationships you could be in:
Avoidant - you avoid mirrors, cover or hide body parts
One-Sided - you don’t listen to your body and instead you tell it what to do
Conflictual - you are battling your body and telling it to be something it’s not, your body might fight back after dieting or restriction
Abusive - you call it names, use demeaning words to describe it, push it into starvation, or exercise too hard.
Healthy - you listen to it, treat it with respect, talk to it kindly, and are appreciative of it
If you treated another person like you treat your body, would that person stay in the relationship with you? Peer relationships are really important to teenagers, so teaching your teen this concept might make a lot of sense to them.
Encourage your teen to improve their relationship with their body by:
Teaching them to listening to the cues it sends (hunger, thirst, exhaustion)
Teaching your teen how to care for their bodies
Cooking healthy foods and being active as a family
Doing fun self-care activities with your teen
Talking positively about your body
Asking your teen what physical needs you can help them meet
What type of relationship are you in with your body right now? How can you improve it?