This is a huge problem.

99 problems and Body Image IS one.

This is a personal post for Fridays blog. Even if you are not a dancer you will relate, so keep reading.

Its true that your body image (the way you perceive how you look) will fluctuate.

This can depend on fluctuations, your cycle, if your tired. However there was a low point for me as a dancer where my body image began to deteriorate.

Confession time... I used to buy new clothes go out get all dressed up, look in the mirror and then cry in my room that I was fat.

I was a size 4-6.

I know that there are women out there who feel like this.

My own echo chamber and the pressure of trying to conform to the industry’s beauty standards started to effect how I looked at my self and how I defined my own value and worth. The days of being told that you had to wear a red lip, you had to be smaller, you had to be at the gym 24/7. As you definitely wouldn’t get noticed in an audition room.

God forbid you had some sauce with your lunch.

Yes a teacher looked at my lunch once and said remove the sauce.

The truth of the matter is the teachers aren’t to blame.

I am truly thankful for the experiences I have had in my time of being a dancer. It has partly made me who I am today. However I wish I had someone who I could turn to to help navigate this whilst in the industry.

It is the lack of education for young women on how to deal with body image struggles, how to realise that they’re worth isn’t t defined by what size top they are wearing. There is huge lack of education in body image, nutrition and training . Why aren't we teaching women on how to fuel themselves so they feel they’re best but also on training to be strong (which especially dancers need).

It is one of the reasons I want to help. I know exactly the pressure of what that environment entails.

Through the years i educated myself and have met some incredible people along the way. I started to realise that what I loved about dance is how I can move, how I can express myself through moving to music *I still do this every morning. This dawned on me that it has nothing to do with what I looked like.

I still wear the same size clothes, even though my physical body composition has changed but the way I look at my body, the way i think, the way I train has all changed dramatically and for the better.

Please know that you can improve this. Your body is your vehicle treat it with the kindness and respect it deserves, not met with negativity and disregard even when that can sometimes be extremely difficult.