Don't Call Me Beautiful

For most of my life

I have struggled
with my body image.

I have struggled
with measuring up
to what I believed was 

beautiful, 

often based on
 the culture of the moment.

I've always been 

insecure 

about my long nose,
rosy red cheeks

and

my long second toes.

No matter what I've weighed,

or even what size I've worn,

I've looked into the mirror
and often felt

disappointed.

Where does this devaluation come from?

Yes,

I can look at society,

Hollywood,

propaganda…

and I can 

point the blame.

What would that really solve?

Nothing.

We have it all…
wrong.

Our culture tells us to first:
be skinnier,
be more fashionable,
be this skin color or that,
follow this trend,
buy this brand,
do this,
and definitely,
don't do that
then we will
feel good
about ourselves.

And we've believed them.

They tell us to
change first,
then we will love
our body.

But does that work?

Do you really spend time
taking care of the things in your life
that you don't
love?

Challenge yourself to
stop
thinking that
changing yourself
will result in
finally loving yourself.

Start
thinking that
loving yourself 
will give you
the motivation to
make positive changes.

When I look in the mirror,   

I still struggle to see 

an acceptable version of myself.  

 

In searching for the root cause 

of my inability to accept and enjoy where I am, 

I realized that I have to 

first love and accept my body

 to see myself 

the way I truly am.

***

Let us start choosing to 

love 

our bodies,

to value the gift and function

of each and every

part.

And in loving them 

how they are now,

let us watch as

almost

effortlessly,

we begin to take better care,

and see ourselves

how we've always wanted 

to be seen.

I'm starting with

my nose,

and ending with

my toes.

      

This is an abbreviated post from the BaxtronLife archive.  For the previous version click here.