How would you feel about learning to embrace all the different parts of yourself?
I am eluding to the fact that you are made up of your emotional self, physical self & spiritual self. The state of your emotional, mental and physical health is super important and I know when you can learn to embrace all these different parts of your make up, the good and the flip side, you can go a long way to starting to accept your beautiful self as you are.
I remember growing up, I really found it hard to accept certain parts of my physical body. I was an elite athlete and in my mind, big boobs and playing sport didn't go together. They bounced all the time and felt heavy and I needed to strap them down with a sports bra AND a sports crop top to feel comfortable. I remember always pulling my jersey down with my hand during the game, because I just felt so self conscious all the time. I really just wanted to be like all my teammates some of which didn't even have to wear a bra to play sport.
I was teased in fun as an athlete by my teammates, however, I never felt that it was malicious, but deep down their words must have struck a chord with me. I didn’t think that I took it to heart, but I obviously did because it’s taken me a long time to learn to love myself for who I am. I'm very passionate about passing on a positive body image message to my daughters because I know that I wasted so much precious time thinking about how I wished I was different.
It's been a long road for me, meeting my husband Charles and seeing how much he loves me for who I am, warts and all, has helped me to be more open to loving myself more. I often hear that you have to love yourself before you can bring in your soul mate, but for me, my soul mate's love for me, proved to be the perfect catalyst for positive change. This and becoming a mama to my 2 gorgeous daughters, helped me to give myself permission to live a more expansive life.
I am now grateful for all the things my body has done for me, I’m grateful that my body heals quickly when it’s sick or injured and that I have a positive mindset. I'm grateful that my body could handle the rigours of elite athlete competition and training for 15yrs with no serious injuries sustained along the way. My body is healthy, she is still quick and she allows me to exercise still to this day in a way I enjoy. My mind prefers to be in a positive state, but at the times she's not, I do take measures to practice what I teach and apply the wellness tools I keep in my toolkit for times such as these.
I guess, having reached the mid point of my life, I'm learning to accept that this is the only body I've been given in this lifetime and she deserves to be loved, not hated.
I no longer waste my time hating myself, and if I do find myself looking in the mirror in a disappointing fashion, as I do from time to time, I am much better at course correcting because I know how powerful my thoughts are, I know my thoughts create my future, and I'm interested in creating a positive future for myself.
Have a think about the parts of yourself that you don’t like?
How can you flip your mindset for the better?
How can you learn to appreciate how far you've come in life?
Can you find it in your heart to be thankful for everything your body does for you?
What about the times your mind has helped you overcome adversity?
Your mental, emotional and physical self work in tandem, one cannot exist without the other, your body responds to what your thoughts tell her, so tell her she's OK, tell her she's beautiful, whatever you tell her, MAKE it positive! She deserves it and if you've spent a lot of time hating your body parts just as I have, it's now time to balance it out with some lovin' beautiful.