Body positivity

[clevermanka]

First day back at work since last Tuesday and for the first two hours of the day I had no internet or network connection. TYPICAL. So I'm even more super behind than I thought I would be.

I want to share this Breaking Muscle article on body positivity real fast, though.

We deflect other issues onto our body because it’s an easy target on which to place blame. It is something that we can fix. It’s much easier to cut back on carbs and calories or get your hair done than address self-esteem issues, relationship or career troubles, and generally difficult emotions. However, if you neglect to see this distinction and ignore the core issues, you will never be able to truly love your body. You will be treating the symptom and not the root cause.

I tell women that having a fat day is a gift because it’s your own internal signal that something else needs to be addressed that goes beyond your body. If we keep telling women to simply love their body, we are keeping the focus on the body as opposed to seeing the broader issues at hand. Part of making this distinction is tagging and decoding the moments when you feel bad about your appearance, so you can start to see where the real feelings are coming from.

This is an interesting angle on body positivity that I'd like to consider more when I have a few seconds to breathe. Which is...not right now.

Comments

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

That's a really smart idea.

[msmitti.livejournal.com]

I want to read this article (can't right now though--volunteer is here) because I have *kind of* been aware of this. For the most part, my "fat days" happen when I don't get to run. For a while I thought they were when I wasn't getting to exercise, but this extended period of no running (my go to exercise) has led me to believe it is running specifically that makes me feel not fat. I wonder if it isn't the exercise element of running that makes me feel not fat. hmmm.

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

This is very interesting to me today. I've only had body image issues during three times of my life: when I was very thin and got teased and ridiculed for it; when I gained the "Freshman Fifteen"; and most recently, when I gained weight in perimenopause.

Two of those eras had more to do with how someone ELSE felt about my body in my discomfort than me actually feeling bad about it. I came to a huge realization about this today (before I got home and read this), when I was visiting my mum and the only things she thought to mention about me were "the pretty dress you're wearing today" and how "it makes you look trimmer, not like the way you looked pregnant the last times I saw you."

Honestly, I'd rather she just said "fat" than that I "looked pregnant". It was realizing that she was only relating to me by commenting on my weight that further disturbed me. Not my new frames (unnoticed), new haircut, how my job/life/car/finance is going.

My weight.