Embrace Your Body: You Don't Need to Wait for Perfection
It isn't just about accepting how your body looks right now.
It is also about acknowledging the fact that it will change: it will age, undergo fluctuations in size and shape, experience wear and tear, get sick, and eventually perish. Having a body that fluctuates and evolves is part of being human & a living being.
We set ourselves the hardest task when we deny this part of our humanity. We strive for an unattainable perfection that doesn't exist. We are not meant to be flawless objects; we are primal, authentic, and imperfect beings – humans.
Let's embrace this reality together and embark on a journey towards inner peace.
Our body deserves respect.
Repeated "failed" attempts at weight loss & dieting can erode our self-esteem & confidence, leaving us feeling helpless. None of this is your fault.
Many accepts their bodies with conditions: must be thin enough, fit into certain clothes, have a certain shape, possess visible abs, be devoid of any excess fat...
More of these criteria are met, they are more satisfied with it. Otherwise, they dislike & despise their own bodies. This is known as "Conditional Body Acceptance".
We need to strive for "Unconditional Body Acceptance," where regardless of how our body changes throughout the life, we can still love ourselves equally.
We need to genuinely believe in our body, trusting that it's doing its best to work for us and tries its best to maintain balance in every situation.
Praising a certain body look still carries biased judgments.
While directly calling someone fat may be disrespectful, it feels like these phrases might be more accepted:
"You look amazing, you've lost so much weight!
You look even more in shape now with this cloth after working out!"
"It seems like you've gained some weight recently, lucky you for having a holiday with great foods!"
Just because these comments seem positive doesn't mean they have positive effects. For example, people who are praised for being thin might start feeling anxious if they gain weight one day, wondering if they're not as good as they used to be.
When we notice someone gaining or losing weight, we don’t have to comment, whether it's positive or negative. We could try to be neutral about it.
Perhaps we can't always enjoy how our bodies feel or look, the same way as life, it's just too much to ask to be constantly positive and perfect.
We don’t have to love our body immediately, it is ok if we don’t. Perhaps we could start with refraining from judgment & comments, whether it is toward ourselves or others. And try to embrace the changes and diversity of our bodies as part of being living beings.
Reference: Book <<Body acceptance>> by Ashlee Bennett
Author: Jin Fu
