Saturday 2nd December 2023
Dear body,
Thank you for being you.
I love you. I love my tiny toe that doesn’t have a nail on it that I have to paint on every time I feel like painting my nails. I love my strong calves that will never be stick-thin poles ever again but are strong enough to take me on long journeys up and down mountains.
I love the scar on my right leg from when I fell into a wall and impressively didn’t ladder 100 denier tights but cut my leg well enough that it will now always have a little bit of a dent about it. I love my knees that endure me sitting crossed legged for hours at a time and are ever so slightly ticklish to touch. I love my thighs and the little mole I have on my right leg that I genetically inherited from my dad.
To my hips, I love your can do attitude. I love that you saw the phrase “child bearing hips” and thought, yeah that’s us regardless of whether you’ll ever get to prove that theory or not.
I love the stretch marks on my lower back that signify a life lived, the fluctuation of weight up and down in my twenties, leaving me with tiny dips on my skin that I’ve grown accustomed to running my fingers over.
I love the spot on my lower stomach that is sensitive to touch and gives me the giggles.
I love the things about you that I’ve been taught along the way not to love about you. I love that you are tall and strong. I love that you allow me to pick items from the top shelf in the supermarket and that pairing you with my unique name means that people remember seeing me even if they’ve not spoken to me.
To my brain, you are fascinating to me. The way you work will be something that I will spend forever trying to figure out and get to grips with. I know you have and will change over the years. Your likes and dislikes will alter, probably only slightly in some instances. I love that you can retain all the words to your favourite songs and the way you come up with ideas like there’s no tomorrow. I love how connected you are to how you feel. To my tear ducts, thank you for all of the overtime that you do, the catharsis that you’re involved in and the way you present yourself regardless of whether it’s for a happy or sad occasion.
To my immune system, wow, haven’t we had a corker of a decade?! Thank you for the work that you do that I will never understand and that is literally going on under my nose!
In truth, dear body, I love you so much and I love all that you allow me to do.
My hope going into next year is that I can continue to embark on a journey of loving you! You are truly magnificent. I’m sorry for all the times when I didn’t think that to be true and for the times when I allowed other people to make you feel like you didn’t deserve to take up space and be the bold and beautiful entity that you are.
You’re precious and you’re truly all that I have. Thank you for putting up with all that I have made you endure over the years.
xx
Beautiful. Thank you for sharing. Love this way you have of pouring into yourself to undo the harmful narratives about our beings.
Beautiful. Nearly moved me to tears. So want to have the SAME attitude towards my body.... especially in terms of the way my brain works. 🧠