“The size of your waist has nothing to do with your worth.”
How many times have you looked in the mirror and hated what you saw? Did you get upset and wish your body was different? Did you punish yourself or deprive your body of what it needed in order to change the way you look?
We live in a world where there is stigma to be a certain size or look a certain way. Diet culture makes standards of weight and health that often turns us against our bodies. Acceptance of your body becomes difficult when we see messages in the media that makes us start to judge ourselves.
I, myself was someone who fell into the trap of diet culture and societal views. I used to spend my time hating my body. I would go to extreme measures to disrespect the ONLY body I had. Eventually, I had to learn to accept my body for what it is.
What is body acceptance?
Body acceptance is accepting one’s body regardless of not being completely satisfied with all aspects of it. Accepting your body even if you do not love all the parts of it? Sounds crazy, right?!
Body acceptance is looking into the mirror and maybe not loving what you see, but still realize that it is okay because no matter how you feel, you accept your body for what it is. You do not have to love all the parts of body. We all have insecurities and that is okay to have them, but it is important to appreciate your body. When we allow our insecurities to control our actions it damages our love for the only body we have. You only have one body so why be at war with it?
When I started to accept and appreciate my body, the things I used to be insecure about slowly went away. I started to realize my WORTH was MORE than the size of my waist.
HOW DID I PRACTICE BODY ACCEPTANCE?
I wrote a SELF COMPASSION letter to my body. Self-compassion is giving appreciation, kindness and love to yourself. When I wrote the letter to my body, I apologized to the parts of my body that I shamed the most. I expressed gratitude to the things my body did for me and made promises to my body to change the way I treat it. Once I did this, my view point started to change. Our bodies do so much for us. Our legs take us to beautiful places and show us how to stand when we feel like falling. Our arms give us strength to hold others up. Our hands give us the ability to cuddle our loving pets. Your mouth allows you to taste all the delicious foods and desserts in the world. Your head is filled with so much knowledge, love, and memories. Your heart works hard to give you the ability to wake up each morning. Our bodies are pretty incredible.
I have my moments where I struggle with accepting my body. But, I do not allow myself to punish or disrespect my body anymore. When those moments happen, I write a letter to my body and give it kindness, love and appreciation. If you ever feel insecure or start hating yourself, write a self-compassion letter. Pull out your favorite journal and start writing. Give it a try and see how it makes you feel!
Always remember the human body is perfectly imperfect, ever changing, and never was meant to fit an impossible standard of perfection.
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