It’s summer time.
Which for many women involves self-consciousness, stress and fear.
The thought of putting on a bathing suit can make some break out in a sweat. Deciding if it’s better to suffer through heat in a pair of pants or feel the discomfort of thighs rubbing together is not the easiest decision to make.
Why do we do this to ourselves?
The greatest part about getting older is the fact that I stress a little bit less about this stuff. But it doesn’t mean that I don’t think about it all.
I still find myself tensing up when I pull out my shorts at the beginning of the warm season worrying if they’ll still fit after a long, cold winter.
The fact is that I am becoming softer. My legs are a little bigger than they were when I was 20. I have a bit more roundness around the middle.
This summer, instead of focusing on all of these imperfections, I am choosing to focus on all the wonderful things my body can do.
I can carry my almost 10-year-old’s sleeping body without dropping him.
I can do push ups, a full minute of them, and my arms don’t give out.
I can take the stairs at work without losing my breath.
I can go for bike rides with my family and my legs will still get me up the hill.
My arms will carry multiple bags of groceries saving me trips.
I can build memories with my family on the ski hill.
I can get up multiple times a night to comfort a sick child and still make it through a day of work.
I can swim and skate and run.
I can do burpees.
I can do on-legged burpees (for real – it’s a thing!)
My knees still allow me to squat.
My core will hold me in a plank.
My body will stretch itself through a yoga practice.
My lungs will fill with air when I jog.
I don’t know why we women so often choose to focus on all the things our body is not.
My body is not perfect. It is soft and scarred and flawed.
But it is capable of so much. It has taken me on so many wild adventures. It has grown and given birth to two beautiful babies. It has fallen sick and healed itself. In it’s strength you will find beauty. And I choose to focus on the beauty.
I challenge you this summer to stop focusing on what your body is not and instead feel it’s power, focus on it’s strength and be thankful for all the wonderful things your body can do.
