Interviewing Self love influencer Ellie Sweet

@xelliesweetx

In your opinion how would you say social media effects our perception with our own body image?

“I think I depends on the person whether social media can effect our image because I mean it depends who you choose to follow, like I used to follow loads of people that were fake and only put their good sides up but now everyone I follow is either someone I know or people are good for me to see. So I guess it depends who you follow but I think if we didn’t have social media people would have a lot less body image problems.”

Secondly, how did your body positive journey start and what influenced you to start posting body positive content on social media?

“I put on a lot of weight through having depression and then I lost a lot of weight and I realised I was not happy with my body at any stage. Then I realised it was more than that it was my mind that needed changing so I tried to do different things to try and make that change. As well as that I saw Nelly London” who Is a body positive influencer “on Instagram and I saw she was spreading a body positive message and I wanted to do the same. I know I have helped a lot of my friends with it in the past so I felt like I could help people more people and the more people I could help the better.”

What do you do when you’re not feeling so confident or high esteem?

“I remind myself what’s what. I remind myself what I see online is not what’s actually going on. I remind myself no one can look perfect and perfect doesn’t exist, that my body does a lot for me and I should be kind to it. Sometimes it is too much, in those cases I just try to relax and not think too much about how I look whether that’s by reading a book, having a bath or whatever else and then try to be kind to myself again the next day until it works again.”

What Is your self care routine?

“ One: tell myself three things daily I like about myself. Two: make sure my social media is a happy place to go to. Three: Look at my body often and show appreciation. Four: dance around my room to make sure my body gets the movement it needs. Five: make sure I care for my body ( eat, drink etc) That’s the best way I care for myself.”

Lastly, if you could give any advice to anyone struggling with their own body confidence and acceptance what would you tell them? “Advise I would give to them is be patent and be patient and consistent because it is a journey and journeys don’t happen instantly so it will happen no matter how ling it takes and I have faith in everyone.”

@xelliesweetx