I am so grateful to hear more about positive body image in the media. As a woman who STILL struggles with the compulsion to "be skinny" and being a mother of a teenage daughter, I work hard to fight the urge to be negative, to not associate my worth to how I look and to be a good role model to my children.
Hats off to celebs like Christina Aguilera, Demi Lovato, Selma Hayak and Kate Winslet who speak out about loving themselves despite working in a pressure filled "skinny" society. As a matter of fact, Amy Poehler inspired this blog post. I completely fall into the category of looking to the worst part of my body in the mirror and focusing on the parts I want to change the most. In an effort to change that I am going to try hard to list as many positive attributes of my body as I can. I urge you to do the same.
- I think my ankles and wrists are feminine.
- I like the length of my neck and that it is not wrinkly (yet).
- I have been known to tell my closest friends how much I love the size of my boobs.
- I like the hazel color of my eyes.
- I like my muscular calves, thanks mom.
- I enjoy being petite, barely being 5 foot.
- I am grateful I can run and be active.
- I am thankful that I have had no serious health concerns.
- I appreciate the fact that I don't get sick too often.
- I am happy that I am still flexible.
- I am thrilled I can write, type and do things without being sore from arthritis.
- I am thankful that I can hear well.
- I am happy with the size of my feet, not too big or too small.
- I am grateful for the fact that my body carried two healthy children. It really is amazing.
- I like being on the muscular side, I should've pursued a gymnastics career.
- My husband still calls me hot and I love that.
What an interesting process! It baffled me that with every positive comment I thought of a negative one popped into my mind. For example, I do love the size of my boobs but wish they were a bit more firm. TMI? Wrong blog. This really showed me that it is not natural or easy to point out the good things about our bodies. Maybe because some of us were told by our grandmothers to not be conceited? Maybe because we began telling ourselves negative things at such an early age and it is habit? Oh how we need to change that in our rising generation!
It is essential that I work on the skill of turning around negative thoughts daily. It is not going to happen on it's own (at least it hasn't over the last 40 years). I, also, am going to do another one like this but about who I am on the inside. It will be a struggle to fight the instinct to criticize, but it is so needed.
Did you take my challenge to do this?
Did you get anything out of it?
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