Episode 11: Cultivating Confidence - Body Image, Bouncing Back and Being Confident in Your Skin
Welcome back to the Overworked podcast! To kick off Season 2, Challin and Mous talk about building confidence in the face of Zoom anxiety, the postpartum “bounce back” fallacy, and how to separate confidence and external validation.
Inspiration:
If I’m feeling down on myself for not achieving enough, or not looking a certain way, there’s about a 75% chance that something on social media started that emotion and it’s now running away on its own. There’s a really fine line between inspiration and demoralization in the world of social media. Unfollow people who make you feel crappy - even if it’s someone you know in real life. If you can’t bring yourself to unfollow, at least mute them so you’re not seeing their content. And go out of your way to follow people that make you feel good! A few of our faves are Mik Zazon, Sarah Landry, Ariel Belgrave, and everyone’s favorite body-positive feminist Lizzo.
We also want to shout out our favorite feel-good brand: Aerie, which has committed to using diverse models, carrying a wide range of sizes, and nixing photoshop in their ads. Confidence starts with your mental state, but wearing clothing that makes you feel good is a big part of building confidence too.
Related Resources:
In this episode Mous briefly mentioned how being praised for “looking good” can drive women to overexercise or eat too little. It brought to mind a clip from Taylor Swift’s documentary Miss Americana, where she talks about how the pressure from paparazzi led to an eating disorder during her 1989 tour. (Highly recommend watching the full documentary on Netflix.)
Studies show that older women consistently report higher confidence levels, and specifically are more comfortable and confident in their bodies. There are two main reasons for this increased confidence: one, older women often focus more on health and less on appearance; and two, older women experience less societal pressure to look a certain way. Read the full study in Science Direct here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1740144521000966
Zoom anxiety has led to a spike in plastic surgery procedures, but it can also affect mental health. A study from Psych Central showed that the increase in video calls can increase mirror anxiety, feelings of being trapped, or self consciousness. The easiest way to combat Zoom anxiety? Turn off your camera.
Where to Find Us
We’re on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and recently on LinkedIn. Interested in a guest post on our blog, or want to be a featured guest on the podcast? Email us at weareoverworked@gmail.com.
