Dear Body
I was planning on writing on soup today. Yep, a very thoughtful and insightful topic, no? 
Then I read Miz’s post that today was National Love Your Body Day and I thought, hot damn, I can’t write about soup when I need to openly celebrate my body that’s sitting cross-legged on the bed right now going, “praise me! praise me!” So to you body, I write the following:
Dear body,
Thank you for putting up with me when, in my sadness, I’ve mistakenly thought that you were the source of my troubles.
Thank you for putting up with me when I’ve used food to cope. For years I made physical exertions difficult for you and would then get upset at your limitations.
Thank you for the gentle reminders of pain telling me I was mistreating you and needed to change for you, for us.
Thank you for housing the vocal chords that have served as my therapy, allowing me to sing though my parents’ separation (even if it was to Mariah Carey’s “I Can’t Live” incessantly…I do apologize, but thanks for letting me do it!).
Thank for you being awkward and clumsy — you make my boyfriend laugh and if laughter isn’t the glue of a relationship, I don’t know what is.
Thank you, body, for that lisp. It makes me feel like no matter how old I’m getting, there’s still a child inside me fumbling with her words out of excitement.
The thing is, you have been my punching bag — and you have always bounced back to literally take me forward, even if the steps were small and cautious. I have spent so much time hating you. I have spent so much time comparing you to other bodies and lamenting you. I have spent so much time separating you from my soul — thinking that if you would just change, get a little slimmer here and there, tighten up over there, then things would be perfect. What a joke, body!
But I’m really not laughing. To this day, I sigh when I catch you in the mirror. I cover you with sweaters and refuse to look at you naked. Why? Because I’m a fool and it’s really that simple. I’ve always thought it easier to blame you, body, than to realize that you won’t change until I do. You see, it’s just my perception that makes me see what I do. Every single moment I have the choice, the opportunity, the gift of seeing you for exactly what you are. You have always been a reflection of my soul. And when I’ve called you ugly, it was because I was ugly, not you.
You don’t deserve a day — you deserve a lifetime of thanks. and apologies.
<3, The Cranky One
What does your letter to your body say?
13 People have left comments on this post
what a sincere and beautiful letter.
Beautiful!!!
I wrote this at Miz: I love my body today because it has muscles & is strong in the face of all else. I love it for being stronger now than when I was younger which means I am learning & I need to keep on learning… How to get there… keep working on yourself & never give up!
Beautiful, just what I needed to hear! I’ll be writing my body letter tonight. thanks for the inspiration to do so.
This made me tear up reading this. I’m writing my Love Your Body day post right now.
That is just beautiful. Way deeper and more meaningful than my first instinct/comment that I love my body for carrying on and not giving out on the way to any crazy goals my mind dreamed up (even if it meant working out 7 days a week from 4-7 hours a day trying to be an elite/collegiate gymnast, working 100 hour weeks at work, or more recently, if it meant running 100+ miles a month to train for my half).
I also love it for giving me signs when I mistreated it and I’m sorry that it went so far sometimes. I did gymnastics until my ankles were almost putty and beyond repair. It took me over 10 years for them to heal, and once I lost the weight to be able to even FATHOM running it took many months of strengthening them to be able to even jog a mile @ 12 min pace. I worked through so many sicknesses that my body devised the plan to give me vertigo so I couldn’t keep my eyes open for 4 days without puking so I could rest. Now, I try to let it whisper into my ear instead of smack me on the knees with a big stick, heh.
Great post! I listed a few reasons to love my legs (which aren’t my fav) a few days ago and it really made me feel better about them!
Beautiful post! Thank you!
My gosh! This is something I’ve seen before…and I linked back to it today, check out my post and please PASS IT ON! http://thespecialktreatment.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/special-k-challenge-embody-yourself/
You inspire!
I LOVE your letter – it’s BEAUTIFUL just like you
totally inspirational.
so i was left thinking about this letter all day yesterday. i thought i would add:
I love my body for always being good to me. I have been very lucky that it has never broken a bone to this day, it has never given me issues with weight, and has always remained healthy throughout all these years.
I am very grateful that it has allowed me to make a career out of it. I teach dance and i am very aware that just one sprain or fracture could easily make me suffer with no income. I try to take care of it and keep from doing dangerous things that may injure it.
And even though growing up i could find things to easily complain about (my hairy arms, my happy trail, my imperfect skin, my hipless hips), it all seemed so silly when my body showed its ability to bring the miracle of children into this world. I know first hand that a child is not a given but a gift….and that is something we sometimes forget. It is easy to say, “when i have kids”…but forget that there are many people whom for some reason or another cannot experience this gift. I am forever grateful for knowing what it feels like when a baby kicks inside me or EVEN what it feels like to be fully awake and epidural-free to bring life into this world.
So i thank my body for a beautiful son it has given me, a beautiful child it will bring me hopefully in May, its health that has kept me from suffering as others sometimes do, and its physicality which i’m sure is part of what has kept me healthy.
THANK YOU BODY!
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