By Brianna Adkins
For the past three years, the two words most used in my vocabulary have been placed together in a multitude of sentences, rants, and conversations: body positivity. Although this phrase has spilled out of my mouth often, I don’t believe I’ve ever defined what it means to me personally.
I found the term body positivity on Instagram about three years ago during my junior year of high school. I found an image of a woman in a bathing suit—belly rolls exposed and everything—with the caption: “body positivity gives me the power to love myself and my body.”
That radical form of self love shook me at my core. I’d hated my body for years and learned exactly how to do it from other girls around me, but this brave woman was sharing her honest and raw love for her body. She was unapologetically proud of her body. I wanted that same love more than anything.
I started my journey of body positivity that day and never looked back. I defined it on my own terms, using it to empower and uplift myself instead of surrounding myself in unneeded negativity. I did my best to appreciate the body I had, and I continue to do so every day.
I love my body—most days. If I’m talking with complete honesty, then some days I really hate it. Body positivity in no way ensures that I love my body 24/7, it just gives me the promise that every day I will work towards a more body accepting goal. It is a process. Wake up, appreciate, and repeat. It isn’t just that way for me, it’s also the same for so many others.
Body positivity in no way ensures that I love my body 24/7, it just gives me the promise that every day I will work towards a more body accepting goal. It is a process. Wake up, appreciate, and repeat.
We don’t have to consistently praise our bodies to the highest extent, praising them as if we really considered them a temple. We don’t have to feel any singular way about the body we have. I’m allowed to hate my body and share that. If you don’t like that, move on. Worrying about how others perceive the way you love your body is in no way body positivity. Just do your best and you’ll notice an empowering change in your life.
In no way am I forcing you to support the platform of body positivity, but I do encourage that you look into it with an open mind. Just like any platform, there are positives and negatives in the ways that others look at it, but it’s worth an open mind and heart. I want all of you to love yourself the same way that you unconditionally love others.
Here’s to finding the brilliant, bold, and beautiful within yourself.
Best,
Brianna “Bronna” Adkins
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