Your body transformation is a chance for you to become the Superwoman you are from the inside out. Mature women have unparalleled experience, wisdom, and compassion for others, but they often lack this same compassion for themselves. Lack of self-compassion and poor self-image impacts body transformation success. It hinders body transformation, making the entire process feel like an uphill battle.
It’s understandable to struggle with your changing appearance and energy that accompany menopause, and many women wonder “is body transformation possible?”
With a positive self-image and self-compassion, body transformation is not only possible, it is empowering and freeing.
But body transformation motivation all starts with self-image. Here’s how self-image impacts body transformation.
Self-Image and Self-Esteem
Your self-image is about how you see yourself. It is part of your personality and is very tied to your overall wellbeing. A negative self-image is associated with self-abuse and self-destructive behavior that makes it difficult for you to better yourself. As part of self-image, self-compassion is having a “noncritical stance toward one’s inadequacies or failures.” In other words, self-compassion is about not beating yourself up for errors or shortcomings, but accepting them as you would of someone else. Being ultra self-critical is tied to negative emotions that will only hinder your body transformation willpower.
Self-Compassion is Essential for Body Transformation Motivation
Is body transformation possible? Only with self-compassion. To be able to progress, you have to be kind and supportive to yourself. Be the “friend” that you would want, encouraging yourself and helping you move past mistakes.
Self-compassion is absolutely necessary for a successful and enjoyable life, and body transformation. One study that examined social workers found that self-compassion was a predictor of personal and professional self-care. Your body transformation is a form of self-care that requires you to be your biggest cheerleader. All forms of self-care require a desire to improve and motivation to do so, which we cannot find when we are overly self-critical.
A different study specifically examined self-compassion and exercise in women. They found that self-compassion is related to wellbeing in terms of exercise. They suggest that improving self-compassion is important for women who exercise. Without the lens of self-compassion exercise is grueling and can fuel critical thoughts.
“Why can’t I do this?”
“I’m not losing any weight, so I must not be working hard enough.”
“I missed a day so I am a failure and should give up.”
These are the kind of thoughts we have when we are self-critical and lacking compassion for ourselves. These are the thoughts that lead to body transformation failure.
Instead, we must build up our self-compassion so that we can enjoy our progress and stay motivated to continue to improve. With self-compassion, a missed workout becomes an opportunity to get better and an understanding that we can’t be perfect instead of grounds for punishment.
Building Self-Compassion
Like all mental tasks, self-compassion can be trained. It is very challenging to master, but you will drastically grow as you increase your self-compassion. According to psychologist Christopher Germer in his book The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion, you must bring in self-compassion through mental, relational, spiritual, physical, and emotional methods. Some ideas include:
- Guided meditations that encourage mindfulness.
- Self-care. Get a massage, do some skincare, talk a walk, improve how you feel physically.
- Give yourself some encouraging words.
- Write to yourself to acknowledge your feelings.
Writing for self-compassion is one of the best, most measurable ways to build up your self-compassion. We can look back at our writing to see our improvement, and writing itself allows us to release some emotions and thoughts that may otherwise pin us back.
Set Your Body Transformation Up for Success By Increasing Self-Compassion
Whether you are preparing for your body transformation or already in the middle of it, now is the best time to start building up your self-compassion. Self-compassion will give you the motivation and positive self-image you need for a successful body transformation that makes you look and feel like your best self.
Of course, developing positive self-compassion on your own is not always easy, but that is why we have created this incredibly helpful guide. We’ve created Writing for Self-Compassion based on the teachings from Dr.Kristin Neff of https://self-compassion.org/ to help you cultivate self-compassion through writing. The guide walks you through the steps of writing for self-compassion, guiding you along the journey. It’s a process you can repeat several times to improve your self-compassion and help your body transformation.
High self-compassion takes you one step closer to being your true Superwoman self and is something you need along your body transformation journey. Start writing for self-compassion today!
