Dear Body: In Case You Forgot, Your Are Perfectly Perfect Just As You Are
Last month, I got really fed up with all the “Get Beach Body Ready!” stuff in the media and on the internet, so I decided to run a 21-day Beach Body Confidence Program.
Each day, the group was given a motivating mantra, lesson/challenge to to focus on and a journaling activity. It was a blast, and all the ladies were such a pleasure to work with!
At the end of the program one of the woman posted this message to our Facebook Group:
“Truly had some beach confidence today. Guess what I did? Sat out at the pool with a girlfriend wearing shorts and a SPORTS BRA. That’s right – let my belly soak up some sun with nothing covering it. Truly a first for me. And you know what? No one laughed or pointed or asked me to cover up.”
My eyes welled up with tears, and my heart instantly overflowed with joy + gratitude. I was so proud of her.
Why?
Because you are beach body ready.
Your body is beautiful…as you are.
You don’t have to hide or cover up anything…it’s your body!
You don’t need to do/fix/change anything in order to be seen as otherwise.
Yet we all feel these things from time to time, don’t we?
On the very first day of the program, I spoke about this controversial beach body ready ad from Protein World. The giant ad boasts a thin woman wearing a yellow bikini, asking the world “ARE YOU BEACH BODY READY?” Bellow they introduce their new weight loss line.
I found the ad to be insulting, gimmicky, tacky, unnecessary and yet oh so typical. In a world where we’re surrounded by weight loss ads, quick fix diets, “lose-the-last-5-pounds-fast” workouts, and fitness professionals who tell us they can “fix everything bad about you and make you hot“, it’s hard to remember to honor your body.
It’s easy to forget about all the wonderful things she does for you each day, and how much it’s done for you thus far.
It’s easy to dwell on your said “flaws,” and push aside your adorable dimples, bright green eyes or the fact that you look like a rockstar in hot pink.
It’s easy to want to cover up your “fat thighs,” when really those beauties are looking for a little Vitamin D love (and no one is looking anyway.)
It’s easy to treat our body with hateful thoughts, and forget to nourish ourselves with hot tea, home-cooked meals, naps, yoga and good ol’ self care!
It’s easy to pinch our belly fat, count calories or let the scale dictate our mood, when in reality your soul is sparkling from the inside out.
It’s easy to compare our body to other “prettier” woman, and forget that you are enough, as you are. In fact, you are lovely.
So just in case you forgot, your body is perfectly perfect just as you are. I promise.
xoxo,
Rachel
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August 11th, 2015 at 10:35 am
Love this! I love how the movement towards embracing our bodies rather than always striving for “bikini ready” bodies is growing so much!
August 11th, 2015 at 8:18 pm
@Monique It sure is nice to see the world finally catching up with this movement 😉 And it’s people like us who can continue to drive the message home!