My body is awesome.
I never used to think this way. Ironically it has only been in the last few years since acquiring a disability that I have learnt to love myself.
When I was younger I used to weigh myself every single morning and that figure on the scale would govern my entire day from how I dressed, what I ate and most importantly my mood. I used to believe the way I looked defined who I was. After all our appearance is the first thing we notice about each other and although pretty much everyone is familiar with ‘never judge a book by its cover,’ sadly many automatically do.
After my health circumstances changed so drastically I began to explore mindfulness as a way to cope with both the daily pain and the emotional distress a chronic health condition can bring. I reconnected to my conscious awareness, that inner peace that is present from birth. We commonly lose sight of this as we grow and develop our (often unhealthy) belief systems. Exploring my consciousness helped me understand I am not my body. It’s just a place I inhabit in this lifetime. and doesn’t define who I am. We can lose pieces of our bodies, limbs, skin, one of our senses and it doesn’t make us any less of a person. I call the body the ‘little me’. Me, the actual ‘big me’, is something beautifully whole, intangible and perfect.
I am grateful for the body I have and I am thankful for all it still can do. I have an extraordinary skeleton which houses all the vital organs I need that function each day for my health and wellbeing.
My body is awesome, but you know what? So is yours.
Written for Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Word prompt – ‘Body’.
fabricating fiction 
I can identify with you – when I was in my teens my body and weight were my main obsession. I used to get depressed whenever the scale didn’t budge the right way and whenever I thought I looked fat. I even had an eating disorder that thankfully lasted only for three years. Then I had a brief stint modelling and realized that none of the models were happy with their bodies… and that up close, no one was perfect…and that the most beautiful woman was the one who was the most comfortable with herself. I am glad and thankful that today I enjoy my food without guilt, and regular exercise has become a habit. Thanks for sharing, we don’t need to be ‘perfect’ in order to be awesome 🙂 p.s. we have the same blog theme!
It’s crazy isn’t it. We are all perfectly imperfect. Glad you treating your body well today.
A lovely, encouraging post! I’m not where you are yet – in the realms of acceptance – but I hope to get there one day.
Thanks so much for adding this enlightening post to SoCS! 😀
Thanks Linda. I still get odd blips, that’s just part of this being human malarkey.
What a perfectly awesome thought. A great goal to attain this way of thinking. Nice post.
Thank you 🙂
Beautifully put. I came to realize this when a knee issue I have was aggravated by an injury last year. I spent a while feeling bad about it until I realized I should be marveling at how well it was healing on its own. It won’t ever be 100% but I value how well my body has adapted considering how bad it was for a while….thank you for this reminder and great use of the SOCS prompt!
I think the body will always heal itself, to the best of its ability, given the right conditions. It’s easy to see it as the enemy though when things go wrong.
Beautiful way to look at the little me. Well done.
Thank you John.
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