Loving Your Body
BY : SHELBY MILLER
A few months ago, we hosted a Love Your Body Challenge. We had over 40 women participate! We didn’t just move our bodies or nourish our bodies. While we did do both of those things, one of the most powerful things we did together was rewrite lies that had been spoken over our bodies. Words are powerful and sometimes what someone says on a whim can ring in our ears for years to come. Sometimes we don’t even recognize the words that haunt us and we unknowingly carry them for years.
I had the joy of leading an exercise during our challenge that we believe broke some chains off of women’s lives. This exercise is something I learned in counseling because negative body image was a big part of my story in college. We created this print out so that you can do it for yourself, help lead other women in it, and maybe most importantly lead your daughters in it.
If you’ve been around F&FCo. for a bit, you know gratitude is a big deal around here…so this exercise was made for us! We have set up the basic format for you on this printout, so now it’s up to you to do the hard work. The important work.
Think about a picture you took of yourself recently. Where did your eyes immediately go when you swiped back to check the picture? What’s the part of your body you constantly criticize? What part of your body do you wish you could change?
Start there.
Now think about the function of that part of your body and practice gratitude for that.
Here are some examples from our challenge:
“I am thankful for my arms. They are strong and help me to care for my kids.”
“I am thankful for my teeth because they help me enjoy delicious, nourishing foods. They also help me form words — something I really, really value.”
“I am thankful for my skin. For the marks it wears around my waist to tell of the hard work of forming & carrying & laboring my babies.”
“I’m thankful for the freckle on the back of my leg that makes my skin unique.”
Friends, words carry so much weight and chances are you’ve had some hurtful ones spoken over your body by others or even by you. Take this chance to undo some of those lies and practice being thankful for your wonderfully, beautifully made, unique body that carries you through each day!
(P.S. If you haven’t read Caroline’s recent blog posts on body image & body shame, you should definitely go do that.)
