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?
aw i loved this!
especially the bit about your skeleton! it made me laugh :)
i love my body because it healed itself after being inflicting with months of ill treatment. i love my body because it clearly knows how to treat me well when i treat it well, too. i love my body and it loves me back! i can feel it :)
My body’s awesome because it puts up with tough workouts and doesnt hate me for it :P
My body’s awesome because it puts up with tough workouts and doesnt hate me for it :P
Because it’s mine! it’s carried with me through looots of water and lets me hold the people I love :)
Hi Angela,
I wanted to let you know that my friend came over today and we talked a lot about body image stuff and all the struggles she is going through. I immediately thought of you and directed her to Oh She Glows. She has already read Part I of your Road to Health Series and says she can relate so much. She told me that she now feels excited and inspired!! See how many people you help? :) The world is a better place because of you…bold statement, but true. :) Happy National Love Your Body Day!!! :D
I love my body because it has the ability to heal!
What a powerful, positive post! You just made my morning :D
Thank you so much for this beautiful post <3 It just brightened my spirits so!
I love my body because it has never failed me, even when I neglected it. It has carried me through the lowest points of my life, and into my highest, and promises to continue to do so as I age. I love my body because it is made of the best stuff: I have arms to hold and hug, legs that run over every mile I ask them to, a stomach that has forgiven me for years of abuse, and eyes that are constantly baffling me with just how freaking BEAUTIFUL this life is!!!
Great post! You are awesome! Thanks for using my tweet :)
This is interesting – I didn’t know today was National Love Your Body Day. This morning in my internet travels (and I seriously can’t remember how I ended up on this site – I always start out looking for one subject and end up on about 10 different tangents!), but I can came across this web-site that was all about ‘thinspiration’, providing details on how to diet successfully, photos of models and celebs, diet drugs, how to eat less etc. I know sites like this exist, but to see how sad and desperate some of the readers were . . it made me sad.
I love my body because it takes me to amazing places, and it’s a combination of my mum and dad (the good and the bad!) and I am blessed with the knowledge and opportunity to take care of it.
i love my body for letting me run 7 miles in 55 minutes even though my brain wanted to go home and be lazy after teaching class at 5am, and then working 10 hours!
Thank youfor this post! I love my body because it continues to persevere after the abuse (mental and physical) that I’ve given it!!
My body is amazing because it has carried me through 2 marathons and a 17 mile hike that ended with my climbing a 200 foot rock where I could have been killed if I lost my balance.
Now that is one kick ass body, flaws and all!
Does Eric like you dipped in chocolate too? he he he….sorry couldn’t resist since he is on a chocolate kick. Wonderful post today! So inspirational :)
my body is awesome because it’s allowed me to run 4 marathons and to get better at yoga!
I love my body because it is shaped almost identically to my twin’s! And because even when I hated it and hid it, it still worked on fighting sicknesses and all the running I put it through. Why do I feel teary right now? Why are we so hard on ourselves? Our bodies are such awesome things.
I love this post! Especially #4 and 16 haha!
My body is awesome because it carries me through tough workouts and surprises me with it’s strength everyday. It even helped me get a new personal record in my 5k today and tolerates me transitioning to barefoot running. I have a serious case of scoliosis and have to get major back surgery this winter but since my body is awesome I know it will be strong and heal quickly.
My body is amazing for all the things it does for me every day, from dancing to thinking- and when I love it, it loves me right back.
I love my body because it has given me two of the greatest gifts one could have. My children!! My body had to go through pregnancy, labor, and delivery, but not once did it let me down. I may have felt like it was going to cave, but in the end it came through. My body gave me both of my sons, it cherished, cared for, and embraced two of the greatest gifts God has given me. My beloved stetch marks, cellulite, spider veins, etc. are proud marks of the miraculous gift of life!
love my mouth for kitty kisses!
you inspired me. i did the same thing on my blog.