How Do I Feel Okay Wearing Shorts? Me vs ChatGPT [Podcast Transcript]

Title: How Do I Feel Okay Wearing Shorts? Me vs ChatGPT

Podcast Date: May 2, 2025

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Description

Today Heather faces off with ChatGPT to see who can better answer the question, "How Do I Feel Okay Wearing Shorts?" Heather reads through ChatGPT's comprehensive answer (and body image coaching attempts) and then adds her own suggestions that will encourage you if you're dreading shorts season or if you've put away the thought of wearing shorts for good. Of course, you don't have to wear shorts, but if you wish you could wear them, but have felt insecure about your legs or the way you look in shorts, this episode will encourage you with truth about your value and worth and why you can wear shorts, even if you don't look like a model.

Learn more about Compared to Who? here: https://www.improvebodyimage.com

Join us on the next 40-Day Journey here: https://www.improvebodyimage.com/40-day-challenge

Grab Heather's 40-Day Body Image Workbook here: https://www.improvebodyimage.com/40-Day-Body-Image-Workbook-Christian

Transcript

Disclaimer: This transcript is AI-generated and has not been edited for accuracy or clarity.

[00:00:02]:

Life audio. Hey, friend. Heather Creekmore here. Glad you're listening to the Compared to You podcast today. Happy May this summer. We're gonna do something kind of fun and kind of risky. We are going to do a series where I am answering your biggest, your toughest body image questions. But that would be boring to just do that.

[00:00:26]:

Right? So one of the women on our team, Jackie, Jackie, she's amazing. Jackie had this idea. She's like, what if it was you versus chat g p t? What if you asked AI the questions to see what answer AI would give someone, and then you answer for yourself? I was like, what an awesome idea. And I gotta tell you, I was a little overconfident. I was like, oh, AI's answers are gonna be so awful. This will be so easy. But honestly, they weren't. And so when you think about people that can be replaced by AI, I sort of thought I had job security.

[00:01:10]:

Maybe not in my writing, but at least in my coaching. Oh, friends. AI is trying to coach you on your body image issues as well. Oh, what the crazy world we live in. So today, I'm gonna tackle how do you feel confident in shorts? And we'll see what AI has to say. I'll add a little something to it, and hopefully, you will be encouraged. I'm glad you're here. Let's get to it.

[00:01:44]:

Okay. So I typed into AI in the chat GPT, how do I feel okay about myself when trying on shorts? And here is what the kind and loving chat GPT had to say to me. You ready for this? That's a really honest and important question, and you're definitely not alone in feeling that way. Oh, I feel so affirmed now. Trying on shorts or anything that shows more skin can stir up all kinds of thoughts and feelings, especially when we're used to being super critical of ourselves. So let's unpack this a bit and talk about how to feel more okay, maybe even confident about it. So here are some things that can really help. Shift the inner voice.

[00:02:27]:

Your inner critic might be the loudest voice in the fitting room. What if you soften that voice just a bit? Instead of, ugh, my legs look terrible, try something neutral or kind like, these are just my legs. They carry me around every day. Or even, I deserve to feel good in what I wear. Focus on comfort and expression. Try to reframe shorts as a form of expression. There's a little rainbow symbol here. Or comfort instead of a test of your body.

[00:02:58]:

Ask, do these feel good? Do I like the color, the vibe? Do they make me feel like me? It's not about how your body should look in them, it's about how you feel in them. The next suggestion I don't know. I guess AI reads my website. Take the mirror break. Sometimes mirrors, especially dressing room ones, are just plain brutal. Try walking around in the shorts without looking at your reflection. Focus on how they feel rather than how they look. You might find you like them better once the visual pressure is gone.

[00:03:35]:

Next, be where your body is. Your body is not a before picture. It's the right now version of you that's getting dressed, living life, and doing its best. You deserve to wear what feels good right now, not when or if something changes. And last, give yourself permission. You're allowed to wear shorts even if your thighs touch, you have cellulite, your legs are pale or scarred or dimpled. You don't look like the person in the ad. Permission isn't something you need to earn.

[00:04:05]:

It's something you can give yourself. And then I get this. It says, if it's okay with you, I can also help with some self talk affirmations, styling tips, or even recommend shorts that fit different comfort needs, looser styles, longer lengths, breathable fabrics, whatever helps you feel more at ease in your own skin. Want to go there? Like, seriously, friends? I I do feel like I'm being replaced. Oh my goodness. I mean, it's not just that AI gives you an answer. It actually is like, I wanna be your friend. I wanna hold your hand.

[00:04:42]:

AI wants to be your body image coach, so I do feel a little bit less job security here. Oh, but it honestly didn't do a bad job. Did it? Oh, I hate to admit that. But I would just say if I were to answer this question, I would say the same sorts of things for the most part. Here's, I think, how I would say it differently. Right? Instead of shifting the inner voice, which is important. Right? But I think all of us have tried the positive self talk. Right? Because that is the advice the Internet gives us a lot.

[00:05:19]:

You just gotta stop your negative self talk and switch it for positive self talk. And while that might work in the short term, it very rarely works in the long term. So it might get you out of the dressing room. But after you buy those shorts, we need you to wear them again. Otherwise, that was kind of a waste. Right? So it's gotta be more than just shifting the self talk, turning off the inner critic. I think you actually have to ask yourself, why? Why do I feel so bad in shorts? And it's not just because the way your legs look. Okay? That's the base answer.

[00:06:02]:

But why do you feel like your legs should look a certain way? Who set that standard for you? Who are you idealizing or idolizing or admiring? Or is it the old you? Like, are you now in your fifties and remembering how your legs looked in shorts in your twenties and thirties and thinking that it should still look the same? Or is there someone on television or celebrity that you follow and you see her in shorts and you think you should look like her? I think that is a deeper issue to be dug into than just changing your self talk. Like, oh, I'm gonna be nicer to myself. I look great. Like, oh, I just think that's a little bit oversimplified. Now I do think the suggestion of focusing on comfort I don't know about the expression part of it, but focusing on comfort is really important because we've all been there. If you buy a pair of shorts that are too tight, the only thing you can think about the entire time you wear those shorts is those shorts because you cannot breathe. Or if you buy shorts that are, like, always riding up and you gotta keep pulling them out from between your legs or how if they are uncomfortable when you walk or if they just hit at that part of your leg that just bothers you and you don't like that they hit their meter too short or too long. Right.

[00:07:28]:

You will be uncomfortable in those shorts, no matter what kind of deep inner healing work you've done. So I would highly recommend focusing on comfort. So here's what I have found. Okay. Just straight up. I've never liked how my legs looked in shorts. Okay? Now it's kind of ironic for me to think about because my legs used to be much, much smaller, but those were always they were always the part of my body that I hated. Like, that's where my body image issues started was with a lie that my legs were too big even when I was a little skinny little kid, really.

[00:08:07]:

So wearing shorts has always been a problem for me. Like, I've always just felt like my legs didn't look right in them. And I especially hated shorts and sneakers. Oh goodness. To have, like, a flat foot leg in shorts, like, I just thought that looked the worst. Now if I had an opportunity to wear, like, a sandal or something with a little bit of a heel with the shorts, I could feel a little better about that. But, oh, shorts and sneakers. I just never liked the look of that.

[00:08:33]:

And so wearing shorts has been a problem for me long before it, like, on paper should have been a problem for me right now because now I've got all of the issues that we all complain about. The issues in that list. The cellulite, the pale skin, the my thighs touch in the middle, all the things. But I've still found this to be true. There are some shorts that I do feel more comfortable in. For me, there's a pair of kinda stretchy denim fabric cut off jean shorts that I like. I feel comfortable in them. I like where they hit on my thigh.

[00:09:10]:

I think the fact that they kind of afraid edge is a little bit distracting, and so it doesn't give that, like, sharp line on my leg. They're comfortable at the waistband because, like I said, they're a little bit stretchy, and I really like them. And I have tried I got them at Ross years ago, And so they're kinda getting a little tethered. But I've tried and tried and tried to find another pair just like them. I mean, I've gone so far as going to Poshmark and putting in the exact details. And I can't I can't replicate them. And so I'll tell you, sometimes it just takes lots and lots and lots of searching. But don't give up.

[00:09:46]:

Don't assume that all shorts are the same because you tried on a couple pairs of stiff khaki, uncomfortable pleated shorts that looked horrible. Don't give up on shorts. But do make sure that they're comfortable on you and you feel at least like you can move in them without having to think about your body all day. Now the next suggestion, the mirror break, we just did a whole episode on that. I'll be right back with my comments about the rest of AI suggestions right after this quick break. So AI's next suggestion was take a mirror break. And, you know, I did the the episode on the mirror fast, but I think this mirror break is basically, like, don't judge the shorts by what they look like in the mirror. Judge them by how they feel on you.

[00:10:30]:

And you guys, I actually think that's a really good suggestion. So let's just take JetGPT for the win on that one. The next one is be where your body is. You guys, this is good too. And I have to remember that chat GPT kind of curates, like, all the best stuff from everyone, and so I'm hoping that it's curating some things for me. But your body is not a before picture, and so it really does make sense to live in your right now body. And I don't want you to miss summer again because you couldn't go outside because it's too hot and you didn't wanna wear shorts, or you couldn't go to that party because everyone was gonna wear a swimsuit, and you didn't even wanna wear a swimsuit with shorts over it. Like, you just couldn't figure out a way around it.

[00:11:15]:

Like, friend, it's okay. You do deserve to wear shorts. You don't have to look a certain way to be worthy of exposing some of your legs when it's hot outside. And then ChatGPT's final suggestion, give yourself permission. You know, honestly, this is good too. You're allowed to wear shorts. Even if your thighs touch, you have cellulite, your legs are pale or scarred or dimpled, you don't look like the person in the ad. I I think for us as Christ followers, it has to be more than just giving yourself permission.

[00:11:50]:

It has to really be about where does your worth come from. And if you believe that your value comes from how you look in clothing and I know that sounds ridiculous to say, but friends, a lot of us are stuck there, so there's no shame or blame. But if you believe that you'll lose value, you'll lose worthiness points, if you go out of the house in an article of clothing that doesn't look like it does on the model, And friend, you're not deriving your worth and value from the right place. Your worth is settled in Jesus alone. Your value is settled by what Jesus did for you on the cross. You don't have to look good in shorts to prove anything. And so my encouragement to you, if shorts really get in your head, right, if this is just like a big mental obstacle you face every single year, would be go and buy a pair that are comfortable, that you like. And like I said, good luck.

[00:12:54]:

It might take some trial and error. It might take ordering 40 pairs from Amazon and returning 39 of them. 40 might be extreme. But, oh, and then you'll also have the frustration of some of them you'll need a size small, and some of them you'll need a size triple x l. And that's all for the same person because that's how wide the variety is in sizing. That aside, try to find some comfortable shorts, and then just try it out. Run to the grocery store in them. Run to Costco in those shorts.

[00:13:31]:

Right? And see what happens. It's kinda like the makeup free experiment that I've encouraged some people to do. Right? Go out without your makeup and watch how no one, like, shrieks and hides and says, oh, a hideous ogre is coming. Right? Friend, I promise you, the same thing should happen to you when you're wearing shorts. Right? Okay. Yes. There are cruel and mean people in the world. There are fat shamers in the world.

[00:13:56]:

Like, I cannot guarantee you the safety that someone will not be rude. But most people aren't rude. Most people aren't looking at you. They're thinking about themselves. Most people don't care what you wear. And then after doing it in public with strangers, then maybe you get a little braver. And maybe you wear them, I don't know, to your small group or another casual event where it would be appropriate to wear shorts, and you see what happens. And then let me promise you something.

[00:14:36]:

People that love you, people that know you, people that you have a relationship with, they love you for you. They don't love you because you look good or don't look good in a piece of fabric. And so you can enjoy wearing the shorts, attending the thing, if you will keep your head off of yourself and onto other people. And, Brenda, I promise you, you show up at that event wearing your shorts, whether they look great or just okay or meh, whatever the status, But you show up at that event ready to love other people and care about other people and ask other people how they're really doing and invest in other people and ask other people, like, their story or what's been going on with them. Right? And those other people are gonna leave that event thinking, wow. It was really awesome to spend time with you. And you know what they're not gonna be thinking about? Your shorts. Not at all.

[00:15:40]:

Or your legs or how you looked at them. They're just not. That is not the impression, the indentation we make on people. The impression we make on people, the difference we make in other people's lives is not through how we look in our clothes, but it's how we love them well. And so shorts or no shorts, friend, you can do this. You can do this. So that's me versus chat g p t. On the topic of, what do you do if you're trying on the shorts so they don't feel good? I hope this has encouraged you today.

[00:16:18]:

And I hope something today has helped you stop comparing and start living. Bye bye. Hey. Have you left a review of this podcast yet? If not, would you just pause right now, right this second, and just leave one on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your shows from that would bless us so much. Our team puts a lot of work into these shows, and we just wanna know that they're making a difference. And so if our words if my words if our work has touched you, we just stop right now and leave a review. That would bless us so much. Thank you for considering.

[00:16:54]:

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