50 Things People Thought Were 'Normal' About Their Bodies Until They Realized They Weren't

Biological oddities occur due to random mutations. Some of them can be responses to a particular environment, increasing an individual’s chances of surviving and thriving there. Other abnormalities, however, offer no clear advantage over anyone else. However, a few can be quite a disadvantage if they cause pain or make the person constantly feel uncomfortable. There’s also the fact that others can ostracize you due to these differences to consider. 

For instance, having 16 wisdom teeth instead of the standard set of 4 might make someone extremely uncomfortable due to growing pains. Meanwhile, the person’s peers might think that this is immensely weird and might even bully them. On the flip side, they find it super cool and take an even bigger liking to them. You can’t always control how people react to you and your body.

However, what you can do is change how you react to how people treat you. A large part of thriving in society comes down to emotional resilience. It’s about loving yourself, knowing your worth, and loving yourself independently of whether the rest of the world adores or abhors you.

You ought to strive to accept the things about yourself that you cannot change and then focus on cultivating healthy habits. Not to sound too cheesy, but you have to be your biggest cheerleader and supporter. Far too often, we give into negative self-talk. This saps our confidence and leaves us doubting ourselves. The world’s far too big and diverse for us to be doubting ourselves just due to a handful of genetic quirks.

Body image coach Jessie Barnes told Forbes that body confidence is the ability to “feel at home in your body,” no matter your size or shape. “It's the understanding that your appearance is simply not the most important feature of who you are as a person and that there is no such thing as a 'perfect' body,” she explained.

“When you live with body confidence, you free up a tremendous amount of energy that you can then focus on your goals, your mental health, and on connecting with the people you love. On the surface, it may seem like it’s about wearing a bikini confidently (and that part is fun!) but the real benefit comes in allowing you to live a life aligned with your true values.”

Cultivating this body confidence might take some effort. For one, you have to separate your idea of self-worth from your appearance. You have to begin seeing yourself and others as people who have a lot more going on in their lives and far more to offer than just how they look at this particular moment.