Today is National Love Your Body Day and I thought it would be a great time to stop and reflect on just how awesome we are!
Here is my list:
1a. My smile and sense of humour because I am dorky, goofy, playful, and I love to joke around…
1b. Laughing til I cry because there are few moments in life when I am truly in the moment like that.
2. My body has no ‘imperfections’, just things that add character and make me unique. Freckles, marks, scars, stretch marks, cellulite, spots, wrinkles, etc. give us character and expression. I think one of the most beautiful things a person can have is laugh lines around their eyes!
3. My body never takes a day off, even when I do!
4. I have 206 beautiful bones and one heck of a sexy skeleton (trust me I’ve seen the X-rays. Meow.)
5. My small intestine is over 20 feet long and it still fits inside my body. Creepy, yet awesome.
6. I have a birth mark on the side of my stomach that is Eric’s favourite spot.
7. A number on the scale does not tell me how awesome my body is! The two aren’t even related.
8. I went from running for just a minute at a time and believing that I just wasn’t a ‘runner’ to running 13.1 miles at a time.
9. If I am injured or sick, my body works fast and furiously to heal itself and doesn’t stop until it is ok. When I am asleep it works the hardest!
10. I have super duper taste buds that give me a passion for food, eating, baking, cooking, etc.
11. My beautiful brain. The source of my passions, my emotions, my laughter, my pain, my creativity, my memories.
12. My body has a wicked ‘gut instinct’ and always whispers to me when it feels something isn’t right.
13. It helped me swim for 750 metres in the open water in just 12:54 minutes. It even kept going when my brain wanted to bail.
14. My body learned to trust me again, after over 10 years of disordered eating. My body allows me to eat normal amounts of food and maintain a healthy weight despite not counting calories, obsessing, or working out too much. It also forgives me when I have a bad day and fall back into old habits.
15. My eyes because they allow me to see beauty in everyday things and capture it with photography.
16. There is a ninja hiding inside of me and I believe I could kick some major butt if required. I also believe I may have had a black belt in a former life.
Ok…maybe a yellow belt… ;)
I posed the question on Twitter today asking you all to give me 1 reason why you LOVE your body! :)
Here are some of the replies:
- @katiehamilton, ‘Because it’s just like my dads….my hero.’
- @ohhealthyday, ‘I love my body because no matter how badly I’ve treated it in the past, it has never let me down.’
- @imadedinner, ‘I have a smile that makes my students feel at ease.’
- @blackcatkitchen, ‘I love my body because it adapts to whatever I throw at it, whether it’s 10k training or a weekend food fest with family!’
- @smittenkitten, ‘I love my body because I had a perfect pregnancy and gave birth to my beautiful, healthy daughter.’
- @marsGiovani, ‘only got one body, and it functions well (healthy)’
- @dianabydesign, ‘People pay tons of money to get natural curves like mine.’
- @Kimberly_FeLix, ‘I love that my body has stood the test of my brutality.. & given me the baby I was told I wouldn’t be able to have.’
- @Bethegoose, ‘I LOVE my body because it allows me to make everyday an adventure.’
- @Clarqui, ‘because I can run and jump, spin and move, skip and dance!’
- @Glorious_Greens, ‘I love my body, because after all the crap I put it through it is still strong & beautiful. It helped me complete 4 1/2 marathons.’
- @KatieHeddleston, ‘I love my body because it continually surprises me with new capabilities!!’
- @ThehealthyE, ‘I love my body, because it helped me run a marathon last year!’
- @sweeton, ‘I love my body because it takes me all over the world to see and do amazing things!’
- @demagenkigirl, ‘Strong swimmers shoulders! That’s why! Keep me going in the pool.’
- @dancersteph25, ‘It’s strong and has gotten me through 3 half marathons in 2010 :)’
- @alysamarsiella, ‘It does things I never in a million years dreamed it could do. And I LOVE my legs and arms. They’re pretty fantastic!’
- @ItAllChanges, ‘I love my body because it is mine. I’m unique. ‘
- @lifewithkick, ‘my body carried me through 32 hours on my feet at fsu’s dance marathon!’
- @runsonsugar, ‘I love my body because it’s strong and forgiving of me while I learn to run.’
- @jessicavogel, ‘I love my body because it’s strong, beautiful, and perfectly imperfect! ‘
- @aprilisfabulous, ‘I love my body because it has birthed and nursed two little girls!’
- @Ryeswmmr, ‘I love my body because it is strong and it gets me where I need to go.’
- @chasingthenow, ‘I love my body because it makes it possible for me to live a full, healthy life!’
- @Dana18_Brown, ‘I love body because I am in control of it. I choose what going into it and how I take care of it.’
- @missfitbliss, ‘I love it because it’s one of the most loyal things I have in life. Takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’
- @mariesha416, ‘I love my body because it’s MINE and no one else’s. There is not another body in this entire world like mine! :)’
- @TaraRunning, ‘I love that my runner’s legs can make me run til’ the cows come home on any given day!’
- @Michellesfood, ‘I love my fair skin! I never want to tan! Plus, I like my muscular legs. Hubs calls them shapely.’
- @klvanhorn, ‘my strong muscular legs can run a sub-20 minute 5K and 2 marathon finishes.’
- @Nikirunsinpink, ‘I love my body b/c it gave me my greatest gift: my now 2-month-old baby boy!!’
- @TastyTherese, ‘I love my body b/c after 27 years of neglect, it continuously surprises me when I push it!’
I love the wide variety of replies that I received. :)
Tell me, why is your body awesome?
I used to dislike the fact that I couldn’t wear tall boots, and then I realized it is because of my calf muscles. Now, I love my muscular legs–they allowed me to bike over 200 miles in 6 days two weeks ago!
This is awesome – your post made me smile :)
I love my body because it proves to me every single day, how amazing and unique it really is. I mistreated it, abused it and hated it in the past, and yet it bounced back strong and healthy.
I love that my body is so forgiving, even when I treated it so bad for so long, I have achieved and now maintain a healthy weight. I also how amazing my body is for giving me two beautiful daughters and enabling me to run and do yoga. :)
Again, posts like this is why WE LOVE YA!
I work with a lot of different clients with all different body types. But what keeps me humble is when I work with clients with diabilities or muscle or bone imbalances or injuries were they are “limited” and it really makes you think how lucky we ALL are to just hop out of bed in the moring. I remind myself that every morning actually and it really has changed my life. ;)
I love my body because it never lets me down, I get back what I put in. I give thanks to it, It works, it is healthy, it is strong, and it loves me and I love it. :) If it talks back, I LISTEN!
I love that you say you have no “imperfections.” I think so many people say that they love and appreciate their body the way it is, but in some way still calling it “imperfect” ( “beautifully imperfect” or “beautiful despite imperfection”) is still in some roundabout way admitting that you believe these differences are flaws. Thank you for the wonderful insight!
Ok, I have to bookmark this post – your 16 reasons have just given me one giant big lift :) THANK YOU!
*love* it!
I love my body because it still trusts me…even if I have given it reason not to. I love it because it’s giving me another chance to prove just how much I love and appreciate it.
I love my body because I can swim fast and for a long time! Having a healthy, muscular body does that!
i love my body because it is healthy, forgiving, and dependable! i also love what you said about your eyes….i love that my eyes allow me to see, and also to change the way i see…..
Such a great post. I do love the fact that even when we are resting, our bods are work, work, working away. Thanks for the reminder.
I love that my body tells me what my brain always knows and ultimately tells me sometimes more about what’s happening metaphorically in my life than physically. Like when I’m running it ragged and stressing out about everything, my body starts aching or a sore throat shows up reminding me that I need to slow the heck down and relax once in a while.
Thank you for the post, Angela! It just reminded me yet again why I should ignore naughty thoughts of dieting etc etc
I love my body because like a true friend it has stayed with me through good and bad (even when I was the one who was insulting my true friend).
I love my brain too because it proves me that with enough patient and perseverance I can understand things that sometimes seem to be out of the scope of my natural abilities.
I love these posts! So inspiring! Thank you for sharing it with us :)
I love my body because it knows what it wants and is able to communicate it with us in so many ways. When we listen to it , that is what makes us healthy, not ignoring it.
I love my body because it’s all mine and perfectly unique!
I love my body cuz it allows me to dress it up, especially with fab shoes!
i love my body because it’s the house of my beautiful soul :)
This is amazing, Angela! We should all celebrate our ” uniqueness” -First time commenting here. Love your blog :)
Honestly, I could come up with a lot of reasons why I don’t think my body is awesome but all it takes is one look at my daugter to remember the one reason all those others don’t matter.
My body is awesome because it went through 40 weeks of pregnancy, growing little fingers and toes inside my belly, gave birth just as nature intended and nursed my baby for seven months.
I’m in tears because it’s really hard to let go of the negativity sometimes. I’ve struggled with eating disorders since I was ten years old but being a positive role model for my daughter is so much more important than what size my jeans are. Happy Love Your Body Day!!! xx
I love my body because it’s the only one I get so I might as well not waste time wishing it was something else.
I love my body because it can do anything. I lost 200lbs and my body transformation helped save my life.
I love that my body, mind, and emotions are beautifully intertwined; and growth in one area, translates to growth in others. Each year, I feel/understand/learn/do things I didn’t the year before.