Body confidence with a stoma
As the saying goes.. the best weight you will ever lose is the weight of other people’s opinions of you! Others opinions have a lot to do with how we feel about ourselves and with social media on the rise what people think is ‘normal’ can highly impact how we feel about how we look.
With airbrushing, sucking in, picture perfect bodies all over the internet and magazines it can be tough to accept the ‘not so normal’ image. Due to my surgeries, I have been left with heavy scarring and a stoma bag. On top of this I have stretch marks and sagging skin in areas. Am I in perfect shape? No! Have I accepted my body for all it has been through? Yes!
Changing my way of thinking
When I first had my stoma bag surgery, I struggled a lot to accept how my body had changed. I hated the stoma bag and the scars and everything else that came with it. I hid myself away from everyone and wore pyjamas all day everyday as the thought of even getting dressed and going out to face the world with how I looked was to over whelming but deep down I knew I wouldn’t be here today without any of this. Each day as I got stronger and learned my way with my stoma bag and watched as the scars healed, I began to change my way of thinking towards my body and how it looked. I learned how my scars had reminded me of wars I had won, cancer being the biggest, and slowly but surely, I realised that there where so many others out there with the not so perfect image that we have been programmed to think is ‘normal’. As I have grown more confident in myself and have accepted how I look its like a huge weight has been lifted of my shoulders. When I realised, I could wear all the things I wanted to wear such as a bikini, and I didn’t have to hide away in baggy clothing my confidence grew even more but this was a process and has taken a lot of work mentally and physically to get to where I am today.
Embracing my flaws
Embracing myself, flaws and all has been so empowering. We all have lumps and bumps and things we don’t necessarily love about ourselves but by accepting this as part of you and learning to love yourself flaws and all will not only improve your mental health but also lift so many barriers that prevent you doing the things you love, wearing the things you want and being your true self.