Most of us ladies go through our entire lives having a love-hate relationship with our bodies. When you take a step back to soak this in, it's a hard pill to swallow. As a woman, I have gone through plenty of times of being hard on myself for wanting to look at certain way, crying over my curves, feeling awful because I've reached an all time high with my weight. I also have moments when I throw all of those negative thoughts out of the window and completely embrace the body that I have been blessed with, no matter what it looks like.
Why are we so hard on ourselves? I understand that we have the media in our faces all day showcasing the most beautiful almost chemically pieced together women as we scroll, but I think we often need to remember to take note of all of the positive things our body gives us. No matter if we are of curvier or thinner stature, we are who we are. We should be grateful that our bodies are able to take deep breaths, our legs give us the ability to get up each day, to bring babies into the world, to dance the night away, and to embrace others with love. How awesome is that!? Have you ever thought about how your arms are medicine for people who just need a good hug? How your Latina thighs get you to work every day? Or how your heart is still beating because you and your body have a purpose?
Even though it can be so damn hard to love your body, it is so important to give yourself that self love on the daily. I am by no means a perfect specimen, but who is and who really wants to be? I go through my high seasons of kicking ass and feeling like Jennifer Lopez, to low seasons of self doubt, embarrassment, self-pity, and not treating my body the way it deserves to be treated. I look at myself in the mirror every day with constant thoughts of nitpicking certain parts of my body that I should be working harder on...being tough on myself, but then I try to look again and show myself some love by dancing in the mirror and thanking my body for yet another healthy, happy day. That's what it should come down to.
The fact is, is that we are never always going to love our bodies, we will have our good and bad days. But I think us women need to have more perspective on how great these bodies of ours are. They do so much for us.
After having started my journey with holistic nutrition I have completely turned around my thoughts towards my health. I got to the point of being uncomfortable in my body, and worse, how my body itself actually felt. The feeling of having no energy, hardly being able to exercise and stress eating was exhausting and not what I wanted for myself. I've made a choice to appreciate, accept, and listen to my body. And while I've still had my down days I almost feel like a revitalized person. Mind and body. I've come to terms with the body that I have and I am determined to make it as healthy and loved as possible, because that is what it deserves and what I deserve. I drink all the water, fuel it with food that makes it feel good, and I move it everyday because I've started liking the activity again. I don't drive myself crazy over it because it's about sustaining a healthy mindset in order to live a long happy life.
I get it, the struggle is real. But you need to get up and create a life that makes your body and mind proud, whatever way that may feel or look like. It's yours to keep, so own it.
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