Have you ever written a love letter to your body? No? Why not? Tell your body how you feel about it. Be honest, be authentic. Share with it your disappointments, fears, longings, and dreams. Snuggle up and write your best friend/body a love letter. Here’s mine:
Dear Body,
It’s taken me a long time to get up the nerve to write you this letter. You deserve so much more than just a few pixels typed out on the computer. Think of this letter as warm socks, showers of rose petals, and an afternoon playing in the beach surf all rolled up into one. It’s a love letter of sorts… though it begins with an apology.
You’ve been incredibly dependable my whole life, taking care of me, hiking with me through the forest, dancing and making music, helping me expand into life in every possible way. And what did I do? I was mad at you for longer than I care to admit. I hid you out of shame. I made fun of you in front of other people. I starved you and mistreated you. I overfed you and then blamed you for existing. I invested time, energy, and money in developing my brain (which you tolerated for years without complaint) and then resented you when you rebelled with pain. My humblest apologies don’t nearly begin to touch the depth of what I put you through. I would never treat anyone else the way I’ve treated you. I am so sorry.
Don’t you find it annoying when someone apologizes but doesn’t add the oh-so-important corollary: “…and I’ll make sure it never happens again.”? So… from now on I promise to do my very best to treat you with the love and respect you deserve. I might make mistakes, I might not love you perfectly at every moment, but know that I’ve resolved that nothing will stand in the way of me loving you ever again. No one’s opinion, no bad mirrors, no ugly photos: I won’t let anything convince me that you aren’t worth loving just the way you are.
You have been a best friend to me all this time, unconditionally supporting everything I love to do and create. I want to do the same for you. I want to listen to you and nurture you, see the beauty in you and support all the changes and adventures you have yet to experience. I want to be your best friend.
Teach me how to love you. Teach me how to listen. Remind me that your beauty is incomparable and inherent in what you are, a magnificent human body. Here are just a few things to remind us both of what I love about you:
You are strong, flexible, amazingly responsive and adventurous.
Your hands reflect back to me my mother, my grandmother, and beyond even that… through you I see a long line of women’s hands that have raised families, learned, loved, and shaped the world.
You are tall, yet steady. Solid, yet graceful. You are soft, but firm.
You are easily delighted: by rain on your face, by the softness of an animal’s fur, by the rustle of leaves, by the sparkle of sunlight.
You are quiet and secretly wild. Other times you are loud and secretly in awe.
I love you. Thank you for being you. Thank you for loving me despite everything. I’m here for you. We’re in this together. May I learn how to love you better every day.
Yours truly, Kimber
Love Your Body Blog Part 49
