It seems most days bring a constant struggle between my mind and my body: Do I go to the gym today? How many calories is that? Can I eat that? What IF I eat/drink that? How much do I weigh? Can I wear those pants, will they fit? Remember those resolutions to lose 10 pounds, what happened?
My husband would tell you I don't need to lose any weight, and you would think that would be enough for me to hear. But it's not. I know I can do better. I Should be doing better. Why can't I do better?
A few days ago, on The Glamourai, Kelly wrote about the beauty of the female body. Not just one type of lady, but All women. How hard we are and have always been on our appearance. It's everywhere, the images we see in magazines, billboards and Television. We are never satisfied.
She even writes about herself, "I have always been a naturally thin person ~ but I’d love to lose 5 or 10 pounds. Gazing into the mirror, I see my flaws long before my beauty: my arms aren’t thin enough, my bum is a little too dimply." I was shocked that this women who I admire daily in her Instagrams thinks this of her own body. It proves we all have our own issues.
When we look at someone else and think they must have it all because they look like what we aspire too or the opposite, we should take a moment to stop ourselves. Stop judging them and stop judging ourselves. They maybe struggling with the same body issues we are and we may just not see it. Or other issues all together that we don't struggle with or understand. I am reminded, "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."
We all judge ourselves and others too harshly and we need to stop. Let's start accepting all the hard work we put into our wonderful bodies and give our minds a break from all the negative thoughts we feed it.
She ends with "This essay and these pictures only scratch the surface of a much larger story. The more we see, the more we know; the more we know, the less we fear. The less we fear, the greater capacity we have for love. We are the stories we tell ourselves: please give your body a little extra praise today."
Not coincidentally, this week Mind Body Green put this article out and the Greatist put this article out there on a similar topic. It's clearly a hot topic.
To Kelly and everyone calling attention to this issue, thank you for putting this out there. With every word and image we are chipping away at the thick walls of self-hatred for our bodies that we have somehow managed to put out there and accept.
Image by Jamie Beck for The Glamourai