It’s no surprise that social media tends to focus on aesthetics.
However, body-positive activist and eating disorder survivor Milly Smith (@selfloveclubb) has decided that she wants to start a movement to change that.
The Movement
Milly recently started the hashtag #MyBadassBody as a way for people to start celebrating non-aesthetic based achievements of our bodies. In the post she made to announce the hashtag, she said, “Our bodies are here for so much more than aesthetics. Our bodies achieve incredible tasks daily by just staying alive...let’s celebrate that instead.”
When I asked Milly about what inspired her to create the hashtag, she said,
“I was thinking one night about all the incredible things my body has done. I realized I’d never actually given it praise for birthing a baby, yet I critique it for its stretch marks. That didn't sit right with me. I wanted a safe environment for people to think of the incredible things their body has done.”
This is an incredibly important point because we are all so quick to criticize our bodies without giving them credit for the amazing things they do for us. Our bodies do so much work just to keep us alive, never mind the other awesome things we accomplish every day!
The Impact
Milly says that the biggest impact the body-positive community has had on her is giving her her life back. “It’s made me appreciate and love myself in ways that I never thought possible. I’ve met friends who I’ll hold dear for life, and it’s given me confidence to pursue my dreams.”
Milly says that she hopes her campaign helps people to “stop and think of the ways their body has been a total badass. We focus so much on aesthetics in society that I wanted to break away from that and get people thinking about the other/more important things their bodies are here for to hopefully allow them to gain a newfound respect/appreciation for their bodies.”
I think this mission is incredibly powerful and important in today’s world. With the huge focus the media and society in general places on visible features and attractiveness, it’s important to take a step back and recognize how incredible our bodies are, regardless of how they appear! We are so much more than our external appearances, and it’s important to thank our bodies for all that they do.
