Body Confidence

The fact that aerial can improve body confidence is amazing. Seeing what our bodies can achieve and what they are capable of doing.

In the reasearch responses I got for this data above, people talked about aerial changing their outlook on their bodies from focusing on what they looked like to what their bodies could do, feeling strong, and liking looking more muscular.

I love seeing confidence grow as someone who was painfully unconfident growing up I thought that was it for life. I would keep my goals within a certain perimeter (speaking in front of more than 5 people was far beyond that) as I thought I was an unconfident person and that was just that.

So when I see students belief in themselves grow I get so excited. When they achieve something they never imagined they would be able to do. The inspiration radiates out.

However…

This isn’t everyone’s experience and professionals seem to be a lot less likely to feel this way.

I spoke about the transition from recreational to professional and the invisible pressures that comes with it in a post a couple of weeks ago but what I think is risky is when we attach our confidence to something. For example ‘I feel confident when I have visable abs but lose confidence when I don’t’. We are giving our confidence dial to something external and allowing it to control how we feel.

So is your body confidence on the condition of maintaining your ‘aerial body’? Because that’s when it can get into difficult territory.

If its under those conditions we can develop the fear of our body changing. What does it mean when we take time away from aerial? What would happen to our body image if we got injured and couldn’t train as much? What happens when our body shape naturally fluctuates throughout a month?

I had attached my confidence to the way my body looked and had a huge amount of fear around this and had to work a lot through therapy to get comfortable enough to allow my body to change. I had to work on my body image outside of my physical appearance so it could not be changed when I looked in a mirror.

Would love your thoughts!

Sending so much love to anyone struggling 🧡