Dear young woman

I know, I know, if only you were ten pounds lighter you would feel so much better, maybe even sexy. But let me tell you a little secret. One day, 5, 10, 20 years from now you will see a picture of yourself at this age. As you are looking at this picture you will see yourself for the first time. You’ll see what you could’t see. You’ll see yourself so differently that it might bring a sense of regret or sadness. For the first time you will see how beautiful you really were.  You’ll see what you couldn’t see. In this space you will begin to remember how healthy, strong, vibrant, alive, thin and young your body was. You’ll realize that you wasted it on self loathing.

As you are remembering yourself at that age you will miss the strength of that body. You will miss the health of that body, the energy of that body, the resilience of that body. You will miss the days when you could do just about anything to your body with out much consequence. I know, I know you might have gained a bit of weight if you did, but your idea of gaining weight was distorted. You thought an extra 5 pounds was gaining weight, but it wasn’t because you could easily lose it. There will be a day when you easily gain 10, 15, 20 pounds without changing your diet or exercise routine. No matter what you do you won’t be able to lose it. But when this happens you’ll have more perspective because you’ll realize that being healthy and having energy is way more important than being skinny.

So dear one, I wonder what would happen if you stopped stepping on the scale and started to appreciate how strong and healthy your body is? If you shifted your priorities from looking good to feeling good. This is your day, don’t waist it on some standard that can never apply to you. What if, right now everything about you is perfect and doesn’t need to change? How would you feel if you started to focus on what is right about your body, not wrong? And, if you dare, take a picture of yourself right now so someday you can remember how beautiful and healthy you were.