Happy Body Love Day

It’s a holiday I just made up.

You celebrate by avoiding negative thoughts about your body all day. Instead, you think of all the crap your body’s gotten you through, all the miles it’s walked and hours it’s slept, all the tears it’s cried and wounds it’s healed, all the infections it’s fought off and viruses it’s overcome. You think about how strong it is, and how it’s a complicated and beautiful machine that has grown with you and carried you to do all the things your mind has asked it to.

Before you finish, remind yourself that the image of “the perfect body” is a myth, that the real perfect body is the one holding the heart beating inside you and the eyes that scan this text and the brain makes that sense of it all. 

Look at your strong hands and think of all they have created. Look at your strong feet and think of how far they have walked. Touch your beautiful face and think of all the joy it has brought to others. Then wrap your arms around your perfect body and tell it you love it.