I just got back from a week with my extended family in the Outer Banks and was in a bathing suit much of the week.
Now, as you know from my blog and podcasts, I've done A LOT of work on body image over the years.
The one thing that can still trip me up?!
Seeing myself in a bathing suit in a photo.
It's like I suddenly take a magnifying glass to the photo to scrutinize every single detail of my body and what I don't like, what I think looks weird, and what I think should be changed.
When we criticize ourselves in photos, in one instant all of our good feelings and progress is discounted.
Here are some of the things I did to help myself NOT go down that rabbit hole!
If you feel critical of a bathing suit picture, check out the 3 tips below!
Prefer to listen to the podcast? Do so here:
1. My Mantra: "That's Just One Perspective"
One of my clients told me a story about taking photos when she and her family were in Vegas.
She has this photo framed on her mantle of her family at the hotel that she loves.
She told me that her daughters told her how to "pose" so that she looked "good" in the pic.
The other photos from just a few minutes earlier/later?
She hated them and thought she looked terrible.
Same outfit, same people, totally different perspective in how she saw the photo.
There are 100 different angles, styles of lighting, and poses that impact a picture.
I learned SO much about posing when I did a Boudoir photoshoot a few years ago (which is a story about body image for another day!).
The photographer had me in poses that were insane--weird back arches, head tilts, crisscrossing of body parts...completely ABNORMAL poses you would never do in real life that make the female body "curve" like you see on magazines.
What if the photo you're criticizing is just one perspective out of a million?
You know how people can witness something and see it totally differently? That's how it is with photos.
That pic is literally one angle, one pose, one perspective.
2. What Was The Moment You Wanted to Capture?
As soon as I hear the critical voice in my head, I like to close my eyes and ask myself what I wanted to remember about that photo.
When I get in touch with these reasons: playing in the sand with my 18 month niece, swimming with my 13 month nephew, running down to the ocean with my older nieces/nephews...it helps to soften the criticisms.
(**I know this isn't a bathing suit photo, but my philosophy is that I don't really post photos like that... I want this to be about your body/mind/journey and not mine :) )
We all have that critical voice that can ruin any moment.
We feel great about our progress and then we see ourselves in the mirror.
Or we're feeling solid that we're eating more normally and then someone makes a comment.
Or our neighbor raves they're counting macros and having "success".
In the snap of a finger, that critical voice can send us into a spiral.
I like to remind myself that photos are supposed to give us feelings of a memory.
What is it I want to remember from the picture?
I certainly don't want to remember me criticizing myself for 20 minutes.
I want to remember the little smile on my niece's face when she sees the sandcastle I built for her :)
3. There Can Be Non-Flattering Photos
I remember looking through my wedding photos a few years ago and was fixating on all the pictures I didn't like.
I said something to my husband about how I didn't like how I looked in some of the pics.
And he said something life changing to me:
"Well, not every photo is great".
Those simple words hit me like a ton of bricks.
You mean, NOT EVERY PHOTO WILL BE A PRINT IT OUT, BLOW IT UP TO 8X10 AND HANG IT ON THE MANTEL ONE?!
Who knew?!
When we get critical about photos...it may just not be a great picture.
It could be who was taking the photo, a weird angle, you turned a weird way, the lighting or any other number of reasons.
What if when you started going down the rabbit hole in the critical mindset, you instead just shrugged and said...
"Well, not every photo is great".
And then moved on with your day :)
So the next time you find yourself being critical of a bathing suit picture, try one of these out and let me know how it goes :)
Which one resonates with you? (Or if you have another idea, post it below!)