How I Learned To Live Bigger, Bolder and Braver

Self Love

My self-love journey began with a question that I asked myself in a deep moment of exhaustion.  I felt hopeless and completely drained after 21 years of doing everything I could to manipulate the size and shape of my body only to come up defeated with a body that was constantly fighting back.

I was fed up and finally ready to wave the white flag. So, I asked myself:

“What if my body never changes shape, size nor ability for the rest of my life and this is the only body I’m ever going to get? NOW, WHAT”?

By asking myself this question, I believed that I was ‘admitting defeat’, but what actually ended up happening was winning a victory battle I didn’t expect. Finally, I felt empowered to take back control of my life.

With big shifts happening in my decades-old thoughts and beliefs, I panicked!

“How could I possibly be enough the way I was”?

“How could I possibly do all the things I want to do in my life, in THIS body”?

After investing in the belief that happiness and all the things I wanted in life would only come AFTER I finally lost all the weight, the thought of being stuck in my current body forever felt really HEAVY (pun intended).

This idea left me feeling depressed, anxious, angry, resentful, ashamed, afraid, and alone.

“This isn’t going to be easy”, I thought. And it wasn’t.

Yet, out of all the lessons I have learned and what I have witnessed in working with my clients on the journey to loving yourself and/or loving your body is this:

Don’t strive for Body Love, strive for Body Neutrality.

There are layers upon layers of reasons why you may be experiencing dissatisfaction with your body and not all of them may be LOVEABLE and that’s OK! 

Here is where you start striving for Body Neutrality. Instead of trying to love how your body looks, focus on the fact that, who you are, what you have to offer the world and what makes you great has nothing to do with your body at all.

But how?

Practice kindness and compassion for yourself every day. For example, if you are having a good body day, celebrate it.  If you are having a sh*tty body day, embrace it. Start practicing gratitude, no matter how small, for the things your body CAN do, for all the things it has DONE for you. How has it protected you, fought for you, how has it kept you alive thus far? Start by looking for one body gratitude thing or aspect a day. Look in the mirror and tell yourself that you are enough right now, at this moment. This is where the journey begins.

We put a lot of conditions and expectations on our bodies believing that we have 100% absolute control over them but the reality is that: bodies age, bodies get ill, bodies change shape, bodies abilities alter and bodies aren’t always controllable. 

So let’s take the focus off your body and re-direct it to far more important matters and the kinds of things that set your soul on fire because that is the way, in my opinion, to experience more love in your life.

Have you heard of intuitive eating? Click here for the five things you should know.

Self Love

Alicia Worobec shows people how to find peace with food again so they can leave yoyo dieting in the past for good.  She helps people find freedom and comfort in the skin by showing them that no dream or goal is dependent on their shape or size.

As a Registered Health Coach and a Certified Intuitive Eating Facilitator Alicia uses a Weight Neutral and HAES based framework to help her clients focus on their health holistically taking into account the physical, emotional and mental aspects to ensure they reach their health goals while also maintaining balance, compassion, and respect for their bodies.  Alicia helps her clients reach their goals by combining support, accountability and stretch to help them make the necessary Mind Shifts to change habits and focus on what’s going on internally rather than focusing on changing their outward appearance.

Alicia is located in Victoria, B.C. and works with clients one-on-one, in workshops, and in groups both in person and online.

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