Body Image and Self-Worth

Body Image and Self-Worth Learning to Feel at Home in Your Body

In a world filled with filters, fitness challenges, and constant comparison, it can be hard to feel comfortable in your own skin. Whether you’re struggling with negative thoughts about your appearance, obsessive dieting, or shame about your body, you’re not alone.

At Orchard Valley Counselling in Kelowna, we help people of all ages untangle their relationship with their bodies building confidence, compassion, and a sense of peace that goes far deeper than appearance.

What Is Body Image?

Body image is the way you see, think, and feel about your body. It’s shaped by many factors social media, family messages, cultural expectations, trauma, and personal experiences.

A healthy body image doesn’t mean loving every part of yourself all the time. It means treating your body with respect, kindness, and acceptance, even when you don’t feel your best.

Signs of Negative Body Image

You might be struggling with body image issues if you:

  • Constantly compare yourself to others
  • Feel guilty about eating or resting
  • Avoid mirrors, photos, or social events
  • Believe your worth depends on your appearance
  • Engage in restrictive or obsessive behaviors around food or exercise
  • Experience frequent anxiety, shame, or self-criticism

These thoughts and feelings can affect not only how you see yourself, but also your relationships, confidence, and overall mental health.

Where Body Image Struggles Come From

Body image issues rarely start from vanity they often begin as a response to pain or pressure.

Common roots include:

  • Cultural and media influences that glorify unrealistic ideals
  • Family comments or early criticism about weight or looks
  • Trauma or bullying that caused disconnection from your body
  • Perfectionism and the pressure to meet impossible standards
  • Diet culture, which equates thinness with worth or success

Understanding where these beliefs come from is the first step toward healing them.

How Counselling Helps Heal Body Image

Healing your relationship with your body isn’t about changing your appearance. It’s about changing your relationship with yourself.

1. Building Awareness and Compassion

Counselling helps you notice critical thoughts and replace them with self-compassion. You learn to speak to yourself the way you would speak to a loved one.

2. Understanding Emotional Triggers

Together, we explore what’s beneath body shame such as anxiety, grief, perfectionism, or trauma and develop tools to soothe rather than punish yourself.

3. Reconnecting with Your Body

Through mindfulness and grounding practices, you can learn to feel safe in your body again instead of viewing it as something to fix or control.

4. Redefining Self-Worth

Therapy helps you recognize that your value isn’t determined by your appearance. It’s defined by your character, your heart, and your capacity to live meaningfully.

You Deserve to Feel at Home in Your Body

Your body has carried you through every moment of your life. It deserves care, respect, and gratitude not judgment.

At Orchard Valley Counselling in Kelowna, we offer a compassionate, inclusive space for anyone healing from body image issues, disordered eating, or self-criticism.

📍 In-person in Kelowna & West Kelowna | 💻 Online counselling across BC
Reach out today to begin reconnecting with your body, your confidence, and your peace.