Celebrate What You've Got

 I saw a post on Instagram from P!nk today with the caption "I always wondered why God gave me thunder thighs.  It's cause he knew I'd use them."  And it was posted beneath a picture of her crushing it on a wake board.  I loved seeing this as it really helped to reinforce something that I had read in the book I referenced last week by Jen Hatmaker.  In her book she mentioned that we would be a lot less prone to body negativity if we referred to our bodies as "she" instead of "it".  When I read that passage, I stopped and paused for a beat and let the words sink in.  And then realized that yes, I absolutely was guilty as charged on that.  I cannot actually count on my hands, feet and all of my other appendages the number of negative thoughts that I have expressed about my body over the years.  Sometimes kept to an inner dialogue, sometimes voiced out loud, the put downs, sarcastic "jokes"  and negative comments have been numerous.  And these observations were always made in the third person, focused on a body part or the whole as an object not worthy of any identity.  An it.  An afterthought.  

Reading the chapter in this book, I decided to try giving my body the identity of she, to see if by doing that there would be any shift in the respect that I gave myself.  Interestingly enough there was.  Suddenly it became harder to lob hateful words at parts of myself  - instead of looking at my legs as being too thick or calling them "tree trunks" I was starting to look at myself as a whole and thinking about how she would feel if I were to say such hurtful words.  Gradually instead of cutting myself down in bits and pieces I was able to look at myself as a whole and celebrate the things that she could do.  And even accept the fact that although the image I may see in the mirror isn't the one that I sometimes hope for, the person looking back at me is the one who accomplishes many goals and does many hard things.  This is why P!nk's post resonated for me so deeply, as for every one like that there are unfortunately multiple that simply celebrate the outer being and continue to deepen the beliefs that the only ideal body is the one that is on magazine covers or conforms to what we have been led to think is the norm.  Challenging that idea of the norm is where I hope more and more women start to put their energy instead of chasing these unattainable and unnecessary versions of the female ideal.

Being able to finally start the process of body acceptance and kindness after a lifetime of the opposite is work that I have wanted to tackle for some time now.  It is a piece of the overall puzzle that I know has been overlooked and it feels like time to change that.  I also realize that it has been overlooked because changing that narrative is hard to do.  I don't know why it is so much easier to be kind to others, to celebrate and accept others as they come to us, and then expect so much more of ourselves.  It is something that I am really hoping to find the answer to and to shift the tide on.  Being able to look in the mirror and into the eyes that I find there and pause and say "I love you for being you, for all that you are and all that you do" will be such an accomplishment for this traveller on her journey and is one that I cannot wait to achieve.