Here are five mindset shifts to help you appreciate your body.
Today let’s talk about those ugly numbers on your clothing. Have you ever purchased clothes in your desired or expected size, get them home, put them on, and realized they didn’t fit— they were too small?
Then you spiraled into an upset and depressive mood. You were down on yourself thinking that there was something wrong with you.
Today, I’m here to share five mindset shifts so you can stop obsessing over the size of your clothes and realize that’s just a number.
Those dirty little numbers on your tag can make you mad, make you sad, or make you feel glad sometimes.
I remember that I use to love shopping at Old Navy because Old Navy is known for its vanity sizing. I could go into Old Navy and buy a pair of pants in a size 14 when everywhere else I had to buy a size 18.
It made me happy because we have this thing in our heads where we just don’t want to be a certain size. We were told that there’s perfection in specific numbers and sizes. You know what, I’m not here for that anymore!
I’m here to tell you that the size on your clothes does not matter, and I’m going to tell you why and show you why. It’s really just a number and you need to let go of it and accept who you are right now exactly how God has made you to be.
join the style membership for fashion frustrated women
The Radiant Woman Adventure
Understand your personal style, choose clothes that flatter your body, and look amazing every day. Get help with color analysis, style essence, body type, and building an easy simplified closet with a personal stylist in your pocket.
Table of Contents
Appreciate Your Body Mindset Shift #1: It’s not you
The first thing I want to cover with you is that it’s not you. It has nothing to do with you. It is definitely the industry. Every clothing supplier and retailer size their clothes differently. There is no standard, no easy way of going about it.
It’s really annoying in a way because when you look at men’s clothing, it’s much more standardized. You buy pants by waist size and inseam and it’s very simple.
But that’s not how they size women’s clothes. They size them with numbers and different systems that don’t make any sense. I’m looking at you Chicos with your weird 0 1, 2, and 3 numbers!
I get that sometimes it’s a way to remove this vanity element from sizing. But it doesn’t make it easy when you are a consumer.
At one store you wear a small, in the other store you wear a large and it doesn’t make any sense. It messes with your mindset. If you want to be a small and have to buy something in a different size.
So you think, oh, it must be my body, there must be something wrong with me.
That’s not okay.
First of all, it is not you. It’s the fashion industry. One of the many things we can hold them accountable for and blame them for when it comes to our negative mindset is how we view ourselves, and how clothing makes this really complicated.
Appreciate Your Body Mindset Shift #2: Different Sizes for Different Seasons
The second thing I want to cover here is really important: certain sizes are made for different stages of life. Different clothing manufacturers also create clothing based on different kinds of women.
The best example I can give for you here is the difference in Junior’s clothing versus Women’s or Misses clothing.
Junior’s clothing is typically odd-numbered: 1, 2, 3. If you’re as old as me, you probably remember the store 579. When I first started shopping at 5 79, I was like a double zero, which goes against the odd numbers, but by the time I stopped shopping there as a late teenager, I was in size 13.
Can you imagine what my brain did with that information?
Hated it.
So Junior’s sizes are odd-numbered and Misses sizes are typically even-numbered: 2, 4, 6, 8, et cetera. The difference here is that these clothes are constructed differently.
Junior’s clothing is constructed for women who have not yet had children. Their bodies have not yet expanded in the God-given way that they were made to bear children.
Their hips have not expanded, their ribs have not expanded, and their breasts have not created milk. Even if they didn’t nurse, it still happens.
If you, as a woman who’s had a couple of kids, try to put on Junior’s clothing, it’s not going to fit you the same because your body’s not the same.
You have given birth, you’ve given life, you’ve gone through this hugely transformative process, and your clothes aren’t just going to keep up with you.
I would like to encourage you here. This is something that happens with retailers, even in the Misses realm, tailoring their things more to a younger Misses crowd versus an older Misses crowd.
You can see in the way they design clothes. But again, the clothes are designed differently. They’re constructed differently because they’re made for people in different seasons of their life.
Don’t get hung up on the number because the clothes are made completely differently.
Appreciate Your Body Mindset Shift #3: Reframe Your Body Size
Number three, I want to encourage you to reframe your body size. I am sure without a doubt that there is at least one thing on your body that you think is too big or too small. And I want you to stop and I want you to think about the beauty in that one thing.
Is it too small, what benefit comes from it?
For example, I have always been large busted and it’s something that can make getting dressed more difficult. But I’ve always looked at women with a smaller bust line and been envious because they can wear cute dresses and strapless shirts and they don’t have to worry about their girls falling out if they bend over.
It seemed like the grass was greener. However, having a large bust has served me well in many areas. Some clothes I do wear better than others.
Beyond the clothing take that body part and honor it for what it does, the purpose that it serves. Regardless of the size of my bust line, I’m happy because it has nursed all of my children.
It has done this wonderfully beautiful thing for me. And so the size of it really is irrelevant at that point because it’s doing what it’s supposed to do. It’s functioning in one of the ways that God intended.
I want you to reframe that one thing that you wish was smaller or larger and celebrate its purpose. Celebrate its beauty for exactly what it is.
Appreciate Your Body Mindset Shift #4: Focus on What You Love
Number four is similar – I want you to focus on what you love. I’m sure there are three things that you absolutely love about your body. And these don’t have to be neck down. Some of these can be from the neck up, which aren’t really a victim to sizing so much.
Think about how dressing those parts of your body that you love gives you a bonus over somebody who has an exactly opposite body type.
Focus on what you love and your mindset will follow that. If you love your feet, show them off in sandals. If you love your bust line show it off how you feel comfortable in line with your own personal convictions.
If you love your hair let your hair be a shining feature on you. Emphasize what you love and spend less time thinking about what size the things are that you don’t like.
Appreciate Your Body Mindset Shift #5: Get in the Word
My final mindset shift here is to get in the Word, go search the Bible. Find the verses that talk to who you are. Find the verses that talk about who God created you to be, the unique way that created you, and how he sees you.
Not just how he created you, but how he sees you. Use the lens of Jesus over everything you are and everything you do.
God’s not sitting there judging you on the measurement of your hips, He could care less. I guarantee you. He’s looking at your heart, the inward character, who you are, and how Christ looks within you.
Appreciate Your Body: Final Thoughts
I know it can be really frustrating when you want to buy clothes in a certain size and you realize that they don’t fit. And the only way to get this piece of clothing to fit is going to be to size up. And even then, you might still have problems because sizing up may cause other parts not to fit you.
It’s really frustrating and it’s tempting to get down on yourself and think that it’s all about you.
My encouragement here today is that it’s not you. It’s not you, it’s the industry.
Clothing is made all differently, for different stages of life.
Choose clothing based on the stage that you’re actually in.
Reframe those negative things about your body. Reframe that one thing that you wish was smaller or larger, and praise it for what it’s done for you.
Then focus on what you love. Focus on three things that you love and can celebrate about your body just as they are without changing them at all.
And finally, the most important thing, seek God. Seek his words for who you are.
If you’re struggling with this number thing, this sizing thing, and it’s just eating you up inside, I would love for you to do this one simple thing:
Go and find one verse from the Bible, just one verse that speaks to who God says you are. I want you to write it on a post-it note, and then I want you to go stick it on your bathroom mirror so that every day when you’re getting ready, you have to see it and you read it, and you can ruminate on what God says and what his truth is about who you are, how you look, and how none of those sad things matter at all.
Related Christian Mindset Articles:
- Fashion Tips for Beginners
- Getting Dressed in the Valley
- Fashion Sustainability from a Biblical Perspective
If you want to learn to appreciate your body you need to make these five mindset shifts.
Stacey is the owner and creator behind Radiantly Dressed. She is a certified image consultant and AICI member focusing on creating simplicity in wardrobes via color and style.
