Poolside Chats
Hello!
This will be the only post this week as I am writing to you from Jersey. I find holidays can be a little difficult confidence/anxiety wise so I thought I'd jump on here and talk about how it's been this week, little coping mechanisms, and just anything else that comes to mind.
I've talked about flight anxiety before but I just wanted to say that I did really well this time! The airport was really busy and felt like everyone in Britain had decided to go on holiday from Birmingham airport so it didn't really put me in a good frame of mind for flying but despite it all, I did fine. The weather was good so there was no turbulence and I only felt anxious at take off. All in all, pretty good.
Flight angst aside, I just wanted to talk a little bit about confidence. The day before Jersey I took a big risk with my hair and had it dyed magenta pink at the ends. 90% of the time I love it but there are certainly times when I feel a little bit watched and it's definitely affected my confidence. I think this is especially exacerbated in terms of body confidence as I don't feel particularly confident in summer clothing at the best of times and often wish I could make my curves disappear. It can be difficult to carry yourself properly when you feel that people are looking at you and perhaps thinking you look fat but I am trying to remind myself that it's my hair that's eye-catching, not my size.
Now, I recognise that many of you will feel fat/watched and don't have brightly coloured hair so focusing on your hair won't help much so consider this: when you meet someone new or see people on holiday/during summer, do you look at them and analyse their bodies to the degree that you analyse your own? If you and I had spotted a particular person for a matter of seconds and I asked you how they had worn their hair or what dress size they were wearing, would you be able to tell me? The answer to those two questions is most probably no. So, are people going to be looking at you in the way you think? No. Dress so you are comfortably and try to remember that most people are extremely unobservant.
Aside from body image the one thing I've learnt to quiet my anxiety is to embrace getting lost in a new place. On holidays especially, it can be daunting to try and find your way around a new place but we quite often aren't in a rush to get places so embracing being lost can be quite enjoyable. Once you stop fixating on exactly where you are, you begin to appreciate what you can actually see around you. Try it next time.
And finally, get off your phone. You go away to relax and unwind so don't let social media run what you do. In fact, that goes all year round. We could all do with getting off our phones and appreciating the present company. Look up and face reality, it's really not that scary!
Now with that being said I think it's time for me to get off my computer and enjoy the present company. Things will be back to normal next week.
Feel free to like, message and share.
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
