Body confidence.
It’s a buzz word flying around at the moment. Little hashtags creeping in everywhere. Body positive. Body confidence. Body love. Self love.
And it’s something that I am working on.
As I go through the process of changing day by day, I look back at the party hard girl from my twenties, to the responsible mother in my thirties and see a difference in my body. A difference in my mental state. And I see someone who is working on loving her body more each day.
Body Confidence
To me body confidence isn’t about not wanting to change my body, because I do. There are things that I don’t like, and more importantly there are health issues that benefit from me being fit, active and healthy. So to me body confidence is about being confident in the body I have now as I work through the changes I want to make.
And I am getting there.
Learning to love the jelly belly, the section scar, the boobs that go from being full of milk to drained depending on the time of day. The cellulite, the stretchmarks and the under eye bags. The laughter lines, the wrinkles and the grey hairs.
Because all of it tells a story, my life, my boys.
All of it is something to be proud of, be confident in and strut down the street.
I AM grateful and thankful for what my body has done. And I AM confident in where it has taken me up to now.
I look down and in every mark, every groove, every inch can see what it has given me.
I can read my story off my body – which is something to celebrate.
But…
I am still working on it. The body confidence AND the body.
Working on my physical health, my mental health and my body confidence. Just because I am confident in what my body has done, and can continue to do, doesn’t mean that I am about to let it wilt under my care.
I am still feeding it the right foods, with everything in moderation. Because what is life without tea and cake. (And wine.).
I am still exercising, running, walking, circuits. Because I need to keep up with three fast paced boys these days.
I am still taking care of me, self care, self maintenance. Call it what you will, I am still sending myself the positive message.
Which I guess is body confidence at it’s finest.
I don’t berate my body for what it can’t do. What it doesn’t do. I celebrate what it can do, what it has done and what it WILL do.
I will never run 5km in 20 minutes, but that doesn’t mean that when I run 5km it shouldn’t be celebrated – of course it should!
So that’s what I am going to do.
Celebrate my body, all that it has given me, all that it will give me.
And know, that my story is there in every line, wrinkle, roll.
And love it anyway.
