#uncustomaryselflove

💖 If you don't know you're a part of the Pretty Squad, imagine I'm currently shaking you by the shoulders and shouting, "YOU'RE PART OF THE PRETTY SQUAD! YOU'RE PART OF THE PRETTY SQUAD!" 💖 Cuz you gorgeous, yo. // 📷: @maurahousley #uncustomarylove #uncustomaryselflove #uncustomarybopo (at Baltimore, Maryland)

Wish you had higher self-esteem? 🎡 Let's start now! I have the tools that can get you on your way to believing you're the badass queen you actually are! 💪 Want to feel like a warrior? Take my FREE e-course on self-esteem and take a chance on yourself! Say you deserve the time, care, and respect for yourself today by signing up for my free e-course. You've got nothing to lose. Not even a piece of paper. 💻 Sign-up at Uncustomary.org/Self-Esteem or click through via my profile // 📷: @maurahousley #uncustomarylove #uncustomaryselflove (at Baltimore, Maryland)

Have you signed up for my Body Positivity e-course yet? 🎀 It's only $22 right now, and I've spent plenty of time on both sides of the fence of self-esteem and the scale. 💞 I can help you love your body! Don't take it from me -- ☄☄☄ "Having spent many years trapped in a vicious cycle of body dysmorphia, toxic relationships and binge eating disorder I understood what it was to wake up everyday looking in the mirror and not seeing beauty or feeling any sort of self love. I constantly compared myself to others instead of looking at the gifts I already possessed within me. The day I met Mary changed me forever. She picked up all the pieces and put me back together like a puzzle. She helped me to rid negativity and energy vampires out of my life and for the first time I realized I was more than my weight. I was and am beautiful. She made me appreciate the small things and for someone like myself who has struggled with depression, she showed me that I did deserve love and acceptance that maybe the world isn't such a bad place and that there are good people doing great things. What she has given me is priceless and I am forever grateful." - Cristen H. 💻 See more info on Uncustomary.org/Bopo !! 💗💗💗 // 📷: @maurahousley #uncustomarylove #uncustomaryselflove #uncustomarybopo (at Baltimore, Maryland)

Your body is a gem. (Look closely for the pun.) 💖 I'm fat. 💖 I love my body. Those sentences are separate thoughts and aren't actually related. They're both true, and one doesn't depend on the other. // 📷: @maurahousley #uncustomarylove #uncustomaryselflove #uncustomarybopo (at Baltimore, Maryland)

If you spend time worrying what your critics and haters say, if you base your actions, outfits, social media posts, and anything else on how you think you should be perceived, if you are constantly explaining why you're doing what you're doing and justifying why you think it's okay... you're not really living. Be influenced by this John Green. Be inspired to live your life for you. If you come home at the end of the day and see that the picture you posted on Facebook sparked negative feedback, know you're not obligated to feel guilty for having an adventure or an opinion as long as it's not hurting someone else, or taking away their personal freedom. Live boldly, twirl often, sing off key, eat desserts, soak up the sun, skip to your next destination, pet all the dogs. #uncustomarylove #uncustomaryselflove (at Baltimore, Maryland)

Do you have Naked Time? My mom initiated it when I was a baby for diaper rash/freedom reasons and it basically just kept going. Spending time with your naked body will slowly build your confidence over time. If that's too much. Start with just exposing the part(s) of you you're most uncomfortable with. Convinced your arms are too flabby? Wear a tank top around the house by yourself for a couple hours while you go about your chores, lounge tine, etc. As time goes on you'll realize nothing bad is happening with that body part exposed and you can take the next step to wear a tank top with a sweater on top of it in public. Then try taking the sweater off for ten minute intervals a couple times a day. Then graduate to leaving the sweater in the car, then at home. Becoming comfortable with your body doesn't happen overnight. You have to be committed to reframing your mindset and loving something you've had a negative relationship with in the past. Luckily you don't have to do it alone! I offer an e-course on Body Positivity you can find at Uncustomary.org/Bopo or you can work with me 1:1 as alive coach to start decluttering your ideas of beauty and really start loving your body and feeling comfortable in whatever you're wearing, wherever you are. Email me if you're interested in 1:1, I can only take on two clients at a time because the work is so personalized! // 📷: @maurahousley #uncustomarylove #uncustomaryselflove (at Baltimore, Maryland)

Body Positivity is for EVERYONE. Recently, within the community, there's been a lot of talk 🗣with making sure we diversify the types of people we're looking at with body positivity. Some people are getting upset that the hashtag #bodypositivity is largely used with fit white women who are sharing 💃 their transformation journey or exercise and nutrition tips because that's "not body positivity". As long as you are approaching body positivity from a place of loving, accepting, embracing, and respecting the body you have and NOT shaming other people in the process then I think you're allowed to use that hashtag, let alone say you're a part of that movement. 👐 I mean, we all know just using a hashtag doesn't make you a revolutionary, and it's up to us to create our realiry, which includes our Instagram feeds. 📱 If you feel someone is pushing the idea that there's only "one way" to be body positive and that's toxic to you, jusy unfollow them. ❌ That said, I purposefully put together a photoshoot 📸 with people of all ages, races, and body types to demonstrate that BoPo is not just for curvy white women. It's easy for certain precedents to end up saturating an idea or movement, and the more we learn about others (in any situation) sheds light on things we probably wouldn't have realized otherwise. If you're looking to diversify your feed in germs of body positivity, @themilitantbaker has made a list ✏ of Instagram users you might want to consider following. Check it out! And please enjoy this amazing photo of J, celebrating his body in one of the million and one ways you can: 🦆 shirtless, riding a duck, 🌺 flowers in your hair... // 📷: @maurahousley #uncustomarylove #uncustomaryselflove (at Baltimore, Maryland)

What's your favorite movie, TV episode, song lyric, blog article, quote, etc. about self-love? 💖 Share your all-time favorite inspiration below ⤵ so we can find more resources!! // 📷: @maurahousley #uncustomarylove #uncustomaryselflove (at Baltimore, Maryland)