Throughout my teen years I was always self-conscious about how I looked and never really had my own sense of style. It wasn’t until the age of 20 when I had left education where I had time to actually live life and develop my own individuality.
At this point in my life I had two PA’s working with me who were so confident in themselves and the way they looked and they helped me start my journey. We used to play a game where we would look in the mirror and list three things, out loud, we physically loved about ourselves. I started with my hair, eyes and legs and over time, the more we played this game, the longer my list became. We always tag each other in cute body positive quotes on Instagram to cheer each other up if we are having a bad day. All of these combined have changed my mentality on how I see my body and made me more body positive.
Whenever I took Instagram pictures, I would never show my stomach as I was insecure about my “SMA belly”. If you’re unaware of what an SMA belly is, I’ll explain. Due to having Spinal Muscular Atrophy my spine curves in forcing my stomach to stick out. This played on my mind for so long stopping me from wearing cute bralettes with shorts or a skirt. However, now I couldn’t care less, I wear what I like and I make it work for me. I wear crop tops and shorts if going to a festival and bodycon dresses when going out. I hope to encourage other individuals who are self-conscious about their SMA belly to not care and fully embrace who they are.
Despite the fact Instagram can have some negative connotations, a lot of people say that Instagram make them feel self-conscious about their body you are in control of who you follow. I follow people with disabilities who are breaking barriers in the fashion and modelling world as that’s what I aspire to do. The majority of the people I follow I relate to because they may have a visible disability or they have a similar style to me so I seek inspiration from them. You should follow people who you relate to and people you admire who don’t make you feel insecure about your body image.
Instagram is such a good community for body positivity and I hope people start focusing on the positivity that it can bring!