The New Body Movement. Spoiler alert: this has nothing to do with exercise, or working out, or the next best thing in the fitness industry. Really, it has very little to do with moving your body at all.
Thigh gaps. Bikini bridges. Fat shaming. “What’s your excuse?”, and the like. Ladies, let’s go! (…terrible timing for a Pussycat Doll song). We’re moving on from this sh*t and leaving it waaaay behind. There’s a new body movement, in town. *Note: thigh gaps and bikini bridges are wonderful and beautiful. But, killing yourself over trying to get one, is not.
You know what it is? Self-love. Body love. Compassion. Acceptance. Ease. This is our movement. This is the now we get to create for ourselves and the future for the young girls in our lives.
The truth is, arriving at a place where these words are ones you embody might not be easy. It takes practice. For many of us, it is a long journey to this place of body love. A journey that is filled with setbacks, hard times, challenges that make you want to turn back and run the other way because it seems easier than feeling all encompassing body love.
Maybe, you think you’ll never get there (Hint: you will). Or, maybe, you’re actually scared to get there. Because, then what? You just love your body as it is forever? (Hint: you will). What if you just give up on exercise and nutritious eating? What if you watch your motivation dwindle and stop pushing for growth?
Loving yourself and your body is in no way giving up. Allow me to repeat myself, one time. Loving yourself and your body is in no way giving up. It’s more of a letting go and offering in, I’d say. Here’s what you might be wanting to shed and lighten from your life:
• Guilt. That guilt you’re hanging onto because you only lifted weights twice last week, instead of your usual three sessions. The guilt you’re feeling from finishing the box of chocolates when you told yourself you were only going to have one.
• Fear: The fear of watching your body change if you allow yourself to feel self-love. The fear of getting uncomfortable in your skin or your clothes. The fear of gaining weight, or the fear of losing weight.
• Anxiety: Feeling anxious that you’ll lose your tight rein on your exercise and nutrition plan if you allow yourself some compassion with your schedule.
These feelings kinda, totally suck, yes? Let ’em go. You can do it. The unbelievable, amazing part about all of this is that we get to. We get to choose to just move on and move forward from these crappy feelings. Right. Now.
I know. It’s damn hard. It might even feel impossible some days when you’re deep into those overwhelming feelings of guilt, fear and anxiety. You know what? It’s ok to feel those things. You don’t need to run from them. I’d encourage you to even let them in, swim around in them for awhile. Write them down. Feel them out.
Once you’ve done a few minutes of swimming, it’s time to get out! Leave those feelings behind and let’s jump in to the new body movement with your whole self.
Here’s what you get to offer in to your life when you choose this path:
• Ease. Exercise and/or nutrition, just is. You’ll move because it makes your body feel amazing. You’ll eat plenty of foods that are nutritious because your body craves them.
• Acceptance. It’s just how it is. You miss a workout? It’s cool. You know you’ll move tomorrow. You ate a burger and fries? All good. There’s no plan to ‘make up for it’. You just do what you do everyday.
• Body love. It’s not just ‘accepting’ your body for how it is. It’s bigger than that, better than it. It’s all encompassing respect, appreciation, and trust for your home – your bod. You love it exactly how it is: because of how it looks, because of how it moves, because of how it carries you, because of how it speaks, because of how it loves, because of how it rests.
This is our new body movement, ladies. We are in this together. As women. As friends. As sisters.
JMG
