I consider myself body positive. Body positive, to me, means that after decades of believing what I was told about my worthiness based on a number on a scale or tag, I decided I was just done. Synonyms: Unsubscribing, canceling, unfollowing that narrative.
Body positivity doesn’t mean that I magically woke up one day and I have zero insecurities anymore and never want to change my body. It means that I am doing the internal work to retrain my brain to stop being my biggest critic.
Body positivity allowed me to start a journey where instead of centering every experience around the size of my body, I get to take joy in existing. I occasionally get asked by people in my life who have seen the palpable shift in me what I’ve been doing so here it goes:
My Body Positivity Roadmap
In 2022 after a particularly horrendous (read: abusive) relationship, I had an epiphany: My body is magic. It performs miracles of science every day just to keep me alive. I only have one life to live, why am I wasting it hating myself? In that moment I decided I was going to rely on a tried and true method – fake it til I make it and started on my own homegrown version of body confidence exposure therapy.
I started by focusing on one body part/insecurity area until it became a non thought: my arms.
2023 was the year of the leg. I wore shorts, skirts, and swimsuits without coverups until my thighs became just thighs again.
2024 I focused on my midriff and man was this one hard as someone who grew up with a belly in the low rise crop tops 2000s era. This one took almost 2 years to get comfortable sharing just a small sliver of belly, but I can confirm that, now, in 2026 I don’t even give it a second thought to go do yard work in a sports bra.
2025 was another hard year. Instead of just showcasing a sliver of skin at my natural waist, I wanted to stop restricting the silhouettes I allowed myself to wear. As someone with a hanging belly, showing my visible belly outline (vbo) was a huge insecurity and I was trained from an early age that I needed to wear control top pantyhose and shapewear to do anything I could to make my stomach flat. No more.
That brings us to today. As a very self conscious size 40B who has never liked her boob shape I’m working on wearing no bra and backless outfits. Yes, sometimes there will be boob tape depending on the neckline and how secure I need it, but I’m excited to stop being so self conscious even walking around my own home in front of my husband.
Stay tuned for what next year brings…
XOXO, Tara
Related pieces I’ve written about body positivity:
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