I have just had a great Coaching session with ne of my beautiful Goddesses that really inspired me to write this blogpost.
Let me ask you this:
Do you feel beautiful?
Do you see your beauty when you look in the mirror each morning or do you see imperfections and a girl that doesn’t have what she wants in life because she is not pretty or thin enough?
I know that for most of my life I saw a girl that had a big ass, thick legs, greek nose I inherited after my mom (yes, I did dream about having a nose job done pretty much all of my teenage years and even in early twenties) and the whole time I was praying that my boobs would finally get the memo that I was growing into a woman. That prayer has not been answered yet…but it finally doesn’t matter.
First step to a healthy body – Self Acceptance
I have finally stopped stuffing my bra and wearing 2 pounds of makeup to look like some airbrushed girl from a cover of some magazine especially after realizing just what can photoshop do to a women’s face (being someone who actually uses photoshop her self for creating marketing campaigns for my Coaching practice…..and not to give my self a nose job I have prayed for, for 2 decades …. I am so happy to say).
Distorted perception of beauty. We need to remember this ladies!
Going from indulging in self criticism to inspired and celebrating my body
It only took me almost 30 years to fall in love and graciously accept my own body as it is. And what a relief – emotionally and financially. I used to be a shopaholic and owned makeup worth few hundred dollars as over time I needed more and more of it to cover up the damage my makeup addiction caused to my skin (and my soul), breaking out badly and hating waking up in the morning disappointed and feeling anything else but beautiful.
Surrendering to being my self and letting go of struggle
At one point, I just got really tired and thought: “what if I just give up?”. I was soooooo tired of trying to make up for all my imperfections I decided to opt in for a very different approach.
I decided to do the JLo thing and dress that ass up! (I am really giggling here thinking about that time). It took a little while to get use to the new type of attention I was getting all of the suden, but hey, it was better than feeling unsecured and chubby.
Change of mindset that allows for transformation
Every time I would do my makeup getting a close up at my nose bump, I would think about the old pictures of my mom and how beautiful I thought she was, and how I was constantly told I look just like her. And if that wasn’t kicking in I would think about Sophia Loren, one of my favourite inspirations, and her nose that she would fight for to keep (after being suggested a nose job) when her acting career was taking of.
When choosing a bra in the morning, I would think about Kate Hudson movies and how I always think that she has an amazing, sexy body.
For the longest time I also didn’t know that Madonna was 5’2″and hello, that’s is exactly the height when I stopped growing. And that girl has been working it ever-since the Holiday! And so would I. In my mind I went from being really short to adorably petite. That sounded (and felt )much better.
I threw away most of my cakey makeup and all the harsh skincare products I was using to correct the damage my little makeup addiction was causing and as soon as I have chosen more accepting and gentle approach, my body responded. My skin started healing and my confidence was slowly coming back. I still think that it was such an intuitive (against all logic of a 20 something years old girl) thing to do. For the first time I was really honouring and truly respecting my body.
The magic of self acceptance and positive thinking
In next few months I experienced something pretty amazing. My litte experiment of changing the way I thought about my body (and my self) was like a signal for my body to start reflecting on how I always wanted to feel about my self. Pretty quickly I lost some the the “baby fat”,as my mom called it, and it’s not so much that I lost lots of weight, but it literally felt like my body’s weight was re-arranged in a more balanced, proportional way.
Loving my body again
I am sure that dressing my body in a way that was actually flattering and showed it off instead of hiding it in bagy clothes had a lot to do with it, but the effect was so noticeable. I had people asking what did I do lately?
I really couldn’t tell them much accept I changed my posture from unaware and hiding to walking with my head up and shoulders back, with pride.
I also have picked up a habit of drinking 1 -2 glasses of water every night before going to bed to help my body detox overnight. I think that this is one of the best habits I have developed ever and it is serving me well until now.
I finally was wearing clothes that was my size and fitting instead of oversized shirts always covering my what I now refer to as bubble bum. (smile).
And most of all, I changed my mind about how I felt about my body that was tortured by my effort to look like someone else but me.
I was finally really enjoying being a girl and even had my first official date, at 21.
Body revolution – time of miracles
The whole process felt like a revolution has taken place in my body and I was in love with the outcome. It felt so miraculas considering what got the ball rolling first – a new, positive, uplifting thought.
I have been doing my best to honour my body in any way I can ever since. I am truly a health nut these days and love dressing up to express the joy of being a woman. I learned to use makeup to have more fun and to play up my assets. And I watch out for abusive self talk -not a welcomed guest in my head.
Start your own body revolution to manifest health, beauty and happiness in your body
- How do you honour your body?
- Do you feel you are doing your best?
- How appreciative and loving is your self talk?
- Do you have a wardrobe that celebrates who you are- body,mind and soul or do you hide behind baggy, “comfortable” clothes?
- Do you walk with pride?
- Are you due for a little body revolution of your own?
If you are, start now. Self acceptance is the first step to healthier and happier life.
Ones you choose that path, you will start experiencing all kinds od miracles – in your body and in your life. I promise you that.
Enjoy being a girl, a woman and if you are dealing with similar insecurities I did, I recommend to dress that ass up. JLo built an empire using that attitude. Let that be a reminder of as Henry David Thoreau says:
“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”
