The #3EChallenge: How To Feel Good About Your Body On A Bad Day

You've woken up and it's One Of Those Days. Nothing quite fits the way you want it to, and you're struggling to find the confidence you need to Get Up And Go. Well, we might have found the solution...

Everyone has them - days when you're just not feeling quite as awesome and amazing and strong and beautiful as everybody is telling you to feel, all the time.

So what can you do to instantly get a body confidence boost? The #3EChallenge might be for you...

EXERCISE I mean, it feels awful and you’ll definitely hate it for MONTHS before you come anywhere close to being one of those people who lies about loving working out, but it makes you feel positive about yourself, gives you a sense of achievement and is usually a great source of funny stories. Everybody farts in yoga classes and makes fools of themselves at the gym, they rip their trousers doing squats – my best friend once accidentally threw a shot-put at a woman’s throat. So who says working up a sweat isn’t worth the effort? Sure, you might be on the receiving end of some embarrassment every once in a while, but the experiences still make for great stories in games of I Have Never, plus that feeling of getting stuff done and kicking your own arse works wonders on your confidence.

ELIMINATION Get rid of those negative voices in your head. Stat. Don’t think about the whisper telling you your stomach is too puffy: remember the time your boyfriend blew raspberries on it because it was legit the cutest thing he’d ever seen. Don’t concentrate on that voice pointing out the bags under your eyes, focus on trying to count how many times your friends have complimented your eye colour. Don’t worry about that chant going on about how that your unusually clingy new skirt makes your bum look, worry about how the club are going to handle you when you turn up feeling amazing and take control of the dance floor to BBHMM*.

EDUCATION There's a reason why we feel bad when we gain weight, or develop wrinkles, or forget to shave our legs: and it's largely financial. Look into the corporations that make billions every year, simply by praying upon female insecurities and telling us we're failing unless we look like celebrities. That's why photoshop still reigns - why products for women cost 37 per cent more than men - why we're inundated with images of 'beauty' that aren't actually achievable. Society still relies heavily on womankind’s culture of self-hate to succeed – educate yourself about what's real, and what's not.

And if none of those are working for you right now, just give yourself a bit of love. Treat your body to a face mask, watch trash TV and remind yourself that even if the relationship you currently have with your body is a love/hate one, any relationship at all is important when it comes to the vessel you’re travelling through this life in.

After all, all you’re really doing is letting yourself get down over the appearance of what is essentially a sack of fluid and bones that is actually doing a pretty good job of carrying around your bomb personality all day. Cut it some slack.

Find out more about the Marie Claire #BREAKFREE campaign.

*Bitch Better Have My Money. Obviously.