At Shapermint, we’re proud to walk the walk - and talk the talk. We work very hard so that everything we put into our little shapewear store that could actually make sense with what shapewear means to us. And this includes, of course, our amazing models.
Meet Paulina - you might recognize her from the eleventy billion pictures of her that are featured all across our shapewear marketplace, but she’s so much more than that. Born in Poland, Paulina is actually a former child ballerina that had HUGE body issues growing up. Fortunately, with time, she actively worked on herself to learn to love her body and let her inner light shine through.
You can watch everything -including what she did to actually let go of her hangups- in the video below (or keep reading if you’re not in a video-friendly environment right now 😉).
Need a recap? Here are the four things you can do to love yourself that Paulina talks about in the video:
1. Recognize that Loving Yourself is Ongoing Work!
Paulina describes her relationship with her body as a love-hate one. “There are days where I like my body and there are others where we’re not on good terms,” she says. However, she accepts that and realizes that some days are going to be more challenging than others and that that’s ok.
Everyone’s allowed to have an off day. The important thing is to decide to get back up and start killing it today!
2. Realize That Everyone Is On the Same Journey to Accept Themselves
“I don’t like my belly,” Paulina tells us if we ask if she has any hangups. “But I mean, who does?” The first step to loving yourself is realizing that EVERYONE has hangups, even if we can’t tell they’re there. I mean, if a gorgeous model is talking about hers…
The magic lies in accepting these self-perceived “flaws” (which, as most of our friends will tell us, are probably 99% imagined) as such and not making them into something that determines who we are. We are not our hangups. We are not our bodies. We need to understand we are so much more than that.
3. Stop Comparing Yourself to Others
“I think to love yourself is to stop comparing yourself to others,” Paulina tells us. “Each of us is so different from one another - there are no two people who are the same. So why compare?” And we’ve got to say, she’s got a point - and isn’t the first strong lady to share this particular insight with us.
“We can never be the same,” she says. “And those imperfections are what make us who we are”. Amen to that! The grass will always be greener on the other side - this is something we just need to accept. Once you do, you’ll see it’s so easy to just forget about it!
4. Talk To Yourself in a Positive Way
“Instead of dwelling on the things that we’re not happy about, why not sit down every morning and think ‘what are the five things that I DO like about myself’,” Paulina suggests. Getting to a point where you accept your body for what it is and truly love yourself is definitely hard work and, as with anything else, requires that we exercise. Only in this case, instead of a muscle, we’re working on our very own self-esteem!
Try Paulina’s trick for a short, 5-minute daily routine of self-flattery. You’ll feel silly at first but, once you’ve done it for a whole week, you’ll slowly start realizing you’ll be thinking about yourself differently, in a far more positive light. After all, we’re always trying hard to be kind to others - why not also start being kind to ourselves?
