Do You Love Yourself?

Ok, ladies (and you guys manly enough to admit it), it’s time to face the music: we are not nice to ourselves.

It’s clear that our society focuses on form over function, and most of us take the bait without a fight. We’re masters at holding up the magnifying glass to pick and prod at every little imperfection we can find. And by degrading ourselves to such a level that we can’t find one good thing to say about our bodies, we consciously or subconsciously do the same to others. We constantly compare ourselves (and others) to what we’re fed to believe is ‘prefect,’ and when we don’t measure up (as we’re bound not to) we become caught in the vicious cycle of superficial self-betterment and shrinking self-esteem. We might as well be walking tabloids. (Cue another frantic yet futile search for miracle creams that surely will erase wrinkles, acne, under-eye circles, cellulite, ghostly skin...).

I’ve been especially guilty of this lately as I've been feeling, in a word, l  a  r  g  e. I know I’m pregnant, but seriously, how easy is it to feel good about your appearance when you walk around constantly expanding every day and you have to wear a blimp of a maternity uniform, commissioned by the lowest bidder who was obviously--no offense--a guy? (Without pen pockets to boot!) And it’s hard to ignore the ugly lines that continue to crisscross my belly in greater numbers each day…my belly that once upon a time was covered with real skin but now resembles an albino raisin. (No thanks to the entire basket in my bathroom filled with half-used “stretch-mark reducing” products).

Thank goodness this for this lovely post from the Modern Mrs. Darcy that just came along to knock me off my horse. In a nutshell: I certainly don't want my daughter to grow up criticizing herself, so what's my excuse? The Modern Mrs. Darcy asserts that we already know we should love our bodies and ourselves, we just don’t know how or where to start. So what to do? She says we need to focus on what our bodies can do, not what they don’t. (Or how they haven’t measured up). Function over form. As in, who cares if you think your [insert attribute] is too big or small? You should only be concerned with what said attribute was created to do...and subsequently thankful that it does its job. Case in point: instead of focusing on my beeeg-ness right now, I need to focus on the fact that my body is doing specifically what it’s designed to do--precisely because God has blessed me with the chance to be a mom once again. And I should truly be thankful that my body is tackling this amazing feat (as thankful as I am for the amazing kid who’s at the root of it!) instead of standing in front of the mirror poking my extra-cushy tush and scowling at myself because I wish it were just a bit smaller.

So I’m taking on the Modern Mrs. Darcy challenge to sincerely consider how great my body is—AS is.

By the numbers:

• 5 times (with the help of the great Creator) my body has carried new life..and against the odds at that
• 3 times my body has expanded to crazy proportions to accommodate our children within
• Twice (so far) I have done the extraordinary work of bringing our Love in human form--our children--into our arms
• Twice my body has morphed from baby carrier into baby feeding machine…and I have been able to delight in the fact that my nourishment (in part) has allowed our kids to grow from newborns into incredible little people!
• And once and for all, my body has sustained me through the absolutely exhausting but oh-so-rewarding joy of mothering my children and loving my husband…all while withstanding the constant demands of my other [crazy] day job—ruck marches and all.

Now it’s your turn! The Rules: Be sincere. No sarcasm or fake answers, just a true, honest-to-goodness analysis of the things you appreciate about your body (you know, the one that God intentionally crafted as completely fabulous). I challenge you to list at least five!

Ready…
set…
go!