“I Don’t Even Recognize Myself Anymore…”

Question:

Were you "you" when you were 5 years old?

How about 10 years old? 20? 30? 40?

Was it "you" running around doing cartwheels, playing sports, going to school, and working a job? 

It seems like a silly question doesn't it? Of course it was "you" throughout all those years! But if someone were to look at you at each point in your life, you would look different every time. 

Your body as a 10-year old looked very different than it did as a 5-year old. 

Likewise, a 20-year old body looks very different than a 10-year old one. 

But no matter what your body looked like, throughout all those years, you were still “you”. 

A Changing Body is a Natural Part of Life

But for some reason, we seem to forget this when we grow into adults. We have this idea that once we’re adults, we’re supposed to freeze our bodies at (insert age here) and never change (or change as little as is humanly possible!)

This idea gets especially challenged when we’re in the process of recovering from dieting or an eating disorder. We’re so used to seeing ourselves in one kind of body, that when we see a photo of ourselves in our recovered or recovering body (a few short months, or years later), we can see an image of ourselves that looks so different. We may have the thought “I don’t even recognize myself anymore…”

It can feel unsettling, even shocking. You look in at the photo and think “that’s not me”.

But it IS you. The real “you” doesn’t change. We’re not our outer casing, we’re so much more than that.

It Takes Time to Adjust to a Changing Body. 

Growing up the changes in our body and appearance tend to be gradual, so as time passes we don’t really notice it happening. But when we go through a process like ending dieting and the pursuit of weight loss, the changes to our body happen more quickly (even rapidly depending how severely we were restricting), so it can be somewhat startling to see a photo of ourselves that we don’t recognize. 

Remember that it takes time to adjust to the new body that you have. The more you allow yourself to be in photos with your new body, the more used to it you will become. 

There is nothing wrong with a new or different looking body. It’s only the thoughts and beliefs we have about it that would ever make it “wrong”. When we stop and connect with ourselves right here in this moment, we come to realise that we are and always have been our amazing selves, no matter what our body looks like. 

If you would like individualised support to feel better in your body, my 8-week coaching program can help. Click here for more information. 

Photo: Adorable baby Kristina :)