28 years. That’s how long it has taken me to fully accept and be at peace with my body.
Am I in love with every single aspect of my appearance? I would be lying if I answered yes.
What I can honestly say, is that I ACCEPT my body. Every flaw, every scar, every stretch mark.
My thick thighs? They’re strong. My saggy stomach? It held and grew two babies. My scar? It’s how my children were brought safely into this world. My slightly uneven boobs? They fed and nurtured twins.
My point is, we all have flaws. Why beat yourself up over it? In my experience, it does little for your confidence and simply makes you feel inadequate and self conscious.
As a teenager, I used to hate my body. I had very poor self esteem, which resulted in bad eating habits and an unhealthy lifestyle. I was overweight.
I’ll never forget the day I joined a gym. I did it because a ‘friend’ of the family told me that I was fat.
I cried for hours after I heard those words, but I turned that sadness into motivation and went on to lose 35kg. I am extremely proud of myself for that weight loss. I worked damn hard to achieve it.
The thing is though, I wasn’t doing it for me. I was doing it because all I could think about was that if my family friend thought I was fat, then so did everyone else. I was doing it to fit in. I obsessed about my weight for years following that and was always so self conscious about what others thought of me.
28 years and two babies later. Motherhood has really put things into perspective for me. I simply refuse to hate my body anymore. I accept it. All of it. Period.
I refuse to let other people’s perception of my body affect my self worth, and I’ll be damned if I allow that to happen to my children.
I train hard, I nourish my body with good foods (well, most of the time. Balance yeah?) and I respect what it is capable of.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with having goals and aiming to reach a certain level. However, know that being a certain weight or size won’t necessarily make you happy.
Always work hard to achieve what you want, but remember to be kind to yourself along the way. ACCEPT and RESPECT your body. It’s the only one you have after all