I have spent the last few days really thinking about my body. No not because my birthday is approaching at the end of this month as a reminder that, whether I believe it or not, I am getting *gasp* older! And not because I might actually be able to pull out some shorts this weekend and enjoy, dare I say it, spring! No I have been thinking about my body because I have been at home for the last 5 days sick with strep throat (which reminds me to always be kind to my children when they are sick because I forgot how much it sucks!).
But my body has been very unhappy. Besides the bacteria infection in my throat, my body has not been in its normal state, it's comfortable state, it's happy state. No my normally active body is protesting because it has been unusually sedentary. Trips from the couch to the bathroom or bed just aren't cutting it, and my feet are vibrating with the anticipation to get moving again.
My mind is unhappy with this new found state as well. Things that I can normally brush off or respond to with some calm (like my almost 4 year old catapulting herself off the couch for the 100th time in one afternoon! Grr...) have had me whispering angry responses (with little impact on the couch acrobat I might add). My mental health is completely tied to how much my body gets to move.
But I am sure this really isn't news to any of you. Health authorities have been telling us for years we need to exercise for our health, physical and mental, and yet when we talk about our bodies, most of us (women in particular) focus on what our bodies look like. How many magazines have headlines right now heralding "6 moves to Flat Abs" or "Get Bikini ready! Loss the last 5lbs before July 1!". We live in a culture where we are so bombarded by air brushed, photoshopped images of celebs and models we value how our bodies look rather then what they can do!
I have had my own battles with body image, the scale and the mirror. I wasted many long hours as a teenager and young adult obsessively counting calories, yo-yo dieting, and telling myself I was a failure when I could not replicate the illusions I saw around me. Not only was I focused on the wrong things, I was hurting myself physically and emotionally.
But since having two daughter of my own I have a new respect for my body. I was very lucky to have short, drug-free, and in many ways, enjoyable birth experiences. When my first daughter was born I was so amazed at what my body was able to do. Did I really just bare this beautiful, perfect human from my body? Giving birth to my second daughter 2 years later, in a silent delivery experience, only furthered my respect for what my body was capable of. I prepared for birth the same way I had trained as a dancer for years. I exercised through my entire pregnancies to ensure my body would have the strength, endurance, and flexibility needed to meet the challenges of labor, delivery, and recovery head on. I heard a lot of comments from friends, family and strangers, who did not understand why I just did not want to sit around and eat. But I respected the process and what my body could and needed to do.
The preparations for the births of my daughters inspired a new respect for my body in general. If I could deliver a baby what else could my body do if I continued to exercise and stay active? Could I finally hold a plank for longer then 2 minutes or maybe more useful, was I strong enough to haul a car seat and diaper bag in one arm and a a toddler and bag full of groceries from the car all at the same time in the middle of an Alberta winter? The more I found myself using my body, the more I realized it could do, and the more I could care less about what it looked like.
Let's face it, unless we want to spend thousands of dollars in plastic surgery (I'd rather go on a family vacation), all of us are going to get a bit wrinklier, a bit softer, and a bit saggier in places. That's life, no miracle creams or tonics or laser treatments are really going to be able to battle the clock. But if we use and move our bodies now and focus on what they can do, we will be able to carry our own groceries to the car, shovel our own sidewalks in the winter, and dance the night away far into our 70s. And with life expectancies being the longest in history we need to to start training to do just that!
So the next time you catch yourself focusing on losing a certain amount of weight or inches, dreaming of the ideal "size" you'd like to buy that new pair of summer shorts in, or picturing what your perfect body "looks" like, do yourself a favor and ask yourself what is something you'd like your body to be able to do? Not only will you hopefully get rid of that ugly voice inside your head telling you you're fat (or some other version of "not good enough") but you'll probably be surprised at what your body CAN do!
