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Love. Your. Body. Now.

When I turned 40, I had a celebration with my girlfriends. There were no gifts allowed, but a girlfriend gave me a gift in what she wrote in a birthday card. She wrote:

“Remember when you were 30 and looked back on the photos of yourself when you were 20, and thought – wow, I looked great. You will be thinking the same thing when you’re 50 looking back at yourself now.”

At first at thought … “Gee, thanks for the reminder of how much I am aging!” But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was actually a lovely thing to say. And so very, very true. Because when I was in my 20s, I didn’t like the way I looked. Same for my 30s.

And now in my 40s? No, I still don’t love the way my body looks. But I have come to appreciate it and be so very grateful for its relative perfect health. Because that’s what it’s all about: relativity. Perspective.

In fact, I use perspective all the time to slap myself out of negative mental spirals. For instance, when my babies were young and up in the middle of the night and I was so tired that nausea was kicking in, I would hold them in my arms and feel grateful that all they had was a dirty diaper, or a stuffy nose, or even a bad fever. Because my dear friend had lost her dear baby due to serious illness at 8 months old. See? Perspective, right.

All this to say, that I thought this video clip was really worth sharing. It is a visual rendering of the words my girlfriend shared with me about aging. I’d love to know what you think about it this video too.

It’s called “Love. Your. Body. Now.” The photos are of a woman named Shannon Bradley-Colleary, who writes for a number of online publications including her own blog A Woman Formerly Known as Beautiful.

Comments

  1. This is EXCELLENT. I could’t agree more. It has taken me a long (long) time to get to this realization, but I’m so grateful for the body I have. I don’t care that it doesn’t look perfect or like some photo-shopped, airbrushed ideal. It works! And that’s a gift. 

  2. amotherworld says:

    I love this, LOVE LOVE LOVE.  Thank you for that reminder :)

  3. Zumbatrish says:

    Julie — I love this video and this concept so much. I always say, “we waste our best bikini years thinking we are fat”. I know that 10 years ago, I had an adorable figure. Sadly, I didn’t realize it at the time. I think I’m getting better at appreciating my body. I think it’s pretty good (and strong!) for 48. It’s also cancer-free (two years plus). If I could embrace my wrinkles as much as I have embraced my body, I would feel much more peace. Thanks for the reminder. All we have is today. And perspective is critical.

  4. Alexandria says:

    This is just the reminder I needed this week. Thanks. :)

  5. the key word here is healthy. as anybody who has dealt with illness knows- a healthy body IS a beautiful body. it’s too bad it takes being sick to realize that.

  6. Really fantastic video post! I’m amazed to read that educative conception. Anyway i would like to say that highly input of you. Thanks for such awesome motion. Thanks!

  7. Since starting speed skating I have fallen in love with my body all over again. It’s grown stronger and I’m doing things I never thought I’d be capable of – it’s changed my whole perspective. Where I used to see fat, I see strong legs that support me. Where I used to see cellulite, I see a body that is learning new things at the age of 42 – and it rocks.

  8. NK_StyleingwithChildren says:

    This is an amazing video. Thank you for sharing.

    PS. and thank you for commenting!! I’m so happy I found your blog.

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