Who told you?

I have realized that no child spontaneously develops body issues. Not one. Every child loves their body simply because it is theirs and it allows them to run and play, until someone comes along and tells them they shouldn't love it. With our young, under-developed brains we are constantly seeing, analyzing, and taking in the world for information because we are new beings. So many of us, when someone tells us how we should feel about ourselves, we believe them. I remember being told many things about my body over the years, and for the life of me I couldn't tell you why I accepted it all as truth blindly. Look at the absurdity of cultural beauty norms: thin eyebrows are popular, ten years later thick eyebrows are in. Small breasts are popular, then large breasts. When I was young, flat 90210 booties were all the rage and now a round bottom is what brings the boys to the yard. Do you really want to spend a decade critiquing and hating yourself while you wait for your body to become fashionable? Who told you that short legs are worse than long ones? Who told you that faces shaped like this or that or styled like this or that are better? It's a complete and total lie, a product of social constructions that you can absolutely 100% reject. PLEASE reject it. By all means, wear whatever clothes or makeup are in season, but please for the love of self-love, do NOT subject your self-worth to the whims of something as subjective as culture. You are unique, and whatever you were born with is amazing simply because it is YOURS. Look at yourself, imagine yourself in a vacuum with no one and nothing to compare yourself to. Look how amazing your body is. Your appendages do SO many things for you with barely any conscious effort. Your eyes, regardless of the shape or color, take in refracted light and paint pictures of the world for you. Your skin has the ability to stretch and shrink to meet your needs, and even tear and repair leaving only a delicate, glittering little mark. Your body takes the calories you give it and either burns it immediately or protects your future health by saving it. It distributes it evenly and uses it to keep you warm and wonderfully padded. You are a wonder, a total miracle. Truly, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Take some time to really feel that today, it's totally counter-cultural and so very TRUE. Who told you how to feel about your own body?