Body Image - If Fruits and Veggies were Like Us!

There was only one time during my teens (age 15 when I was district archery and soccer champ) that I was pleased with my body. I call this short period "My Artemis Reincarnation". The years prior to that and after, I thought my butt was waaaaayyyy bigger than it really was. At 21, when eldest daughter was born, my body truly was bigger and from that point forward, I felt I was on the losing side of a game that I had no chance of winning. Therefore, I took a "detach and ignore" stance. My body became the rebellious child who had to be severly punished and controlled. Any thought of my body was negative and harsh.

In my early 40's, exhausted and spent, I found a new community of friends who taught me to love my body just as it was. They showed me by modeling great examples that the body was one's best ally - not an enemy to be destroyed but a gift to be nourished and celebrated. My life has never been the same.

Now, although I'm carrying excess that I'm working on two fronts to reduce, I no longer hate my body. This is a paradox because my body is bigger, my butt certainly, and yet I love it just as it is. I reach out through the decades back to that young, misguided girl and smile. Now, I am my body's best mother - I care for it and give it what it needs for fuel and fitness - and I'm its biggest cheerleader. It has taken me through 55 years of life. No one else, not even my oldest friends, have done that.

So, life a cold one (that's ice water y'all) to your own body. :drinker: Give it a hug and, most importantly, learn to say and think kind words about it.

-Debra