A letter to your body

About three months ago, I came across a post from a young woman on BlogHer who was encouraging women to write letters to their bodies. She was suffering from fibroids and it was taking a toll on her body. It was phenomenal and so inspiring, that I wanted to share the idea with my readers. I know many of you don’t blog so you wouldn’t hear about it unless you were a member or frequent visitor of BlogHer.  So I have provided you a snippet of my letter to my body and encourage you to write one, share it with the rest of us and/or pass on the idea to other women. You will soon realize a new appreciation for this amazing shell of skin, bones, organs, limbs and arteries that get you through on a daily basis. One way of truly taking care of our health as women, is really learning to love who we are – both physically and mentally. How we feel about it, can be a determining factor of how we take care of it. Remember, it’s the only body we have and it’s on loan. So, tell me how do you feel about your body? Here’s how I feel about mine:

Dear Body,

Thank you for always being strong for me, even when I didn’t treat you as well as I could have. I am trying really hard to take care of you now because I know that without you, there is really no me. You help me get to work EVERYDAY. You help me to breathe, eat, sleep, laugh, cry, feel, love and the list goes on. Wow, what would I do without you? I really don’t know. I think about how helpless I would be without you. I think about how blessed I am that I have two great working legs, two working arms, that I have vision, smell and touch. I think how blessed I am to be able to hear so well (sometimes too well) and that my feet keep me going, going and going. How do you it? How do you stay intact, even when I am not doing what I am supposed to at times?  

I have to tell you, I have really turned over a new style of eating to ensure you get what you need, so you can give me what I need. It’s not easy, but I guess being my body isn’t easy either. At the age of 35, I am finally learning to love you and appreciate all of the curves you have bestowed upon me. Yes, my hips frustrate me at times, but I know that they are there for a reason. Oh and my thighs, well I just keep trying to run so those stay toned and firm. Oh yeah, my feet? They are still a tiny bit of an inner struggle, even though I know at 5′10″ I would look awkward with size 8s instead of a size 10.5. But I thank you for those too, so I can stand tall with pride. Well, like I said in the beginning, I don’t know what I would do without you. I have so much more I can say about you, but know that I will spend the rest of my life taking care of you and keeping you healthy. I have to thank my mother though for taking care of her body when she was pregnant with me, to give me what I needed in the womb to have such a strong and amazing body!

Love, Savvyhealthgirl