My Journey to Body Confidence

~A break from all the “I’m a proud parent” entries~

Bag and Shirt, Mango

Shoes, Zalora

Skirt, H&M

But before we get real and personal, let’s take a quick moment to adore these peep-toe high heels from Zalora Th.  I’m a huge fan of the masculine-meets-feminine style but I’m a bit skeptical at wearing shoes with an almost 5” heels due to some wedding shoes trauma. But this pair is not tough to break in plus great cushioning on the bottom for minimum pain- and they’re absolutely chic. They will get a lot of play to work. Good thing I sit behind a desk lol!

My personal struggle and how I coped up…..

I want to share something I’ve been struggling for years and how I managed to navigate my way to body positive. My journey to Body Confidence has been a tough one.

Being on the extra petite size and managing to dress up my underweight 5’0” height to look more fashionable and matured is not an easy task. You know that punched-in-the-gut feeling you get when someone intentionally scans your small frame and goes on criticizing every inch of your body?

  “You’re too skinny” “Anorexic"With No Appetite”

“You should eat more carbs/food” and a lot more body shaming going on after.

I can take honest, (professional) and constructive comments seriously by heart. But I can be very sensitive to criticisms especially when it’s something personal that sometimes they even go as far as questioning my lifestyle, background, and personal choices. Like OUCH who died and made you king of everything?

Fast-forward to now and the positive idea…..

I know these insecurities and fears too well. It has been a long hard journey for me. And I’m not saying I was able to escape it entirely coz’ people will never stop finding faults in you. But eventually, I learned to bounce back by strengthening my weaknesses. These experience and criticisms helped me grow, as both a blogger and a person. And guess what this even gave me an empowering idea on what positive impact I could pass on to other people by accentuating their positive feature rather than pointing out their flaws.

Another defining moment is, maybe we all feel unconfident and discouraged sometimes but that doesn’t give us the right to be mean to others. Oftentimes, mean people have their fair share of negative comments, somebody probably made them cold. And it’s normal that this one little action, a chain reaction will never stop. But the cycle must end right now. And it starts with us being “confidently beautiful with a heart”!

Of course, that’s easier said than done. (Even the Miss Universe works hard for it) J

Let’s take the baby step at a time, tip-toe if you like...

Here are few trial and error tips in finally finding my inner strength. But remember, it’s a work in progress;

  I started to change my inner dialogue

Sometimes, the mind can be your worst enemy so be extra careful what you feed in regularly. Instead of focusing on the negative, I work my way to Body Positive, being healthy is my main priority.

Exercise, Diet, and Vitamins

 I talked to my doctor about the right kind of vitamins to take and some exercising tips to gain weight. He recommends Vitamin B12, protein-rich diet, and simple weight lifting exercises to add muscle to my tiny frame. 

I surrounded myself with positive people

There will always some people who will make you feel less significant and trick you to society’s toxic definition of beauty. Always stand up for yourself and what you believed in. I learned the hard way of letting go people despite ~ gossips and bad blood ~ and commit myself to people with a positive outlook and encouraging perspective.

I exerted effort on how to dress up my 5’0” height.

 I followed few petite celebrities & bloggers and copied their style. (I love Rachel Bilson and Taylor Swift; they have the best clothes and the hottest boyfriends. Lol! ) I continually search out on some fashion stores and pick out the ones that cater petite sizing.  I see to it that a dress should work on my body and not the other way around. And reality check, some international brands just don’t assimilate with tiny frames, it isn’t their brand’s target market. I’m glad Zalora TH runs small sizing and their spread is equally chic and of good quality.

If all else fails, SMILE– it’s an instant prettifier!

And lastly, this mantra applies.

“You’re beautiful no matter what they say. Words can’t bring you down”.

There are general laws of the universe; “NOBODY’S PERFECT” “WE CAN’T PLEASE EVERYBODY”. But we can be good and body confident and in any case, stop being mean to ourselves.

Happy love month everyone,

P.S.  If you ever see me on my messy ponytail, unflattering company uniform or basically rocking the lazy outfit like always, please say hi and feel free to speak what’s on your mind. Hahaha. I won’t mind it at all though since I feel lucky and confident esp. now that motherhood works pretty well to my advantage. I’m beyond blessed that I have a household to run, a job to do, a family to care for, a blog to work on and a precious little time to take care of myself to even focus on the negative. 

So, let’s stay awesome?