10 Things That Matter More About Your Body Than the Way You Feel About How it Looks
I know how hard it is to love your body.
We live in this world where we suffer through an onslaught of negative messages about the way we look. We are flooded with images, warnings, and admonitions about how we differ from the ideal. Our doctors tell us how heavy we should be, magazines tell us how flawless we should be, and our casual interactions in the world set us up for perpetual compare-and-despair syndrome.
How many times a day do you look in the mirror and rejoice at the image reflected back at you? Has that EVER happened? Have you ever said, “Girl, you are killing it today!” and then blown yourself a kiss before heading off to live your life?
It’s much more likely that your default response is disappointment or even disgust every time you catch a glimpse of yourself. In fact, we’re so used to it that being flawed and falling far short of the standard feels TRUE, doesn’t it? It feels like an objective set of circumstances that we don’t even question.
But I want you to consider, just for a moment, that the dismay you feel about the way you look is not TRUTH. It’s just your perspective at this moment based on lots of factors. It’s just as possible that you could have been born into a different culture, in a different time and place, where the body you have right now is the ideal. You could and would be so proud of the way you look and so happy you were blessed with such a socially acceptable body.
Disliking the way you look is a belief. It’s the result of a series of messages you’ve repeatedly received over the course of your life that coagulated into a conviction that has settled down into your subconscious mind and dictates the way you feel and behave in the world.
Disliking the way you look also isn’t the whole story. Even if you feel like you can’t be happy or confident or popular or successful or whatever until you like the way you look, and even if it seems like the way you feel about the way you look matters more than anything else…That’s not true. None of that is true. There’s so much ELSE to consider about your body. Have you ever realized that? You are putting so much importance on your single opinion about one simple thing about yourself.
Sometimes I literally HATE my body.
There are times when I’m so incredibly resentful that it feels a million times harder for me to be pretty and socially acceptable than so many other people. And in those moments, it’s super important for me to remember that while those feelings are valid and understandable based on the way I was raised and the culture I live in, they’re just feelings.
The way I look isn’t WHO I AM. And it isn’t necessary for me to love my body in order to keep living the life I want to live. Loving the way my body looks is not the goal; loving MYSELF is. The way I feel about its appearance ultimately doesn’t matter that much.
It is possible to knock your feelings about your body down on the scale of importance a little bit. Just for perspective, let’s explore some of the other things that matter about your body. Take the way you FEEL about its APPEARANCE and set it aside for a moment. What else is there?
Here’s a handy list of things that matter more about your body than the way you feel about the way it looks:
How it feels when it’s working well.
The way other people feel about it.
All the amazing things it can do like jump rope, have sex, and lay prone on the sofa for hours at a time.
Its ability to protect and serve you throughout your life.
The fun ways you can decorate and adorn it to show your personal style.
The way it adapts and responds to your environment and the way you take care of it.
How it can hold things like cute babies and chocolate cake.
How it can show affection and tenderness when you embrace the people you love.
How it provides comfort to children and partners and puppies who curl up on your lap.
How it gives you the ability to enjoy life and do all the things you want to do.
The way it looks is almost immaterial when you consider all this other stuff, right?
Love, Teddey
