I often hear women say, “Summer, I’m trying to ‘love my body’, but I still hate myself!!” {Cue door slamming, hiding under covers to watch The Notebook and eating popcorn buttered in tears.}
There are a myriad of reasons why this might happen – most often not getting to the real source of body shame or actively doing anything to start the process of loving yourself (hint hint scale hoarders).
One of the not so obvious reasons we get stuck is that we sabotage ourselves. We don’t let ourselves love our bodies.
When you hate your body, then no one else can hurt you. You ‘know’ you’re a beastly unlovable mass of cellulite and rolls doomed to wonder the earth in matrimony with your bag of chocolate covered almonds. You’ve already beaten yourself down to the lowest point.
You’ve created this distorted ‘safe’ place of existence. If you don’t love yourself then there is nothing that other people can take away.
You think you are protecting yourself, but really you keep yourself trapped and avoid any chance of true self-acceptance.
Deciding to actually love your body can feel vulnerable because you think that something ‘bad’ might happen.
Your feelings might get hurt. Someone might insult you, judge you, break your heart, assume that because you still shop in the juniors section of Nordstrom and watch Degrassi you are not an intelligent 36 year-old woman.
The happiness you gain from loving yourself might get pulled out from under you in an instant, so you’d rather stay trapped than deal with loss.
If this sounds like you, then know that you are not alone. This is really common and especially if you’ve experienced that rug being pulled out from under you in the past.
I want you to know that when you let go, you open yourself up to actually experiencing the desires you’ve been chasing through diets.
The next time you feel like you’re struggling to ‘love your body’, ask yourself if you’re really only trying to insulate yourself from being hurt. And then tell your doppelganger to step aside because you’ve got your big girl panties on and have this one covered.
Letting go of your protective bubble can be terrifying. But, much like any terrifying act that we follow through on, true fearlessness is our reward.
If you’re ready to step outside of your bubble and have me as your cheerleader, then remember that I’m going to be running a group cycle of my 21 Step Body Image Remix starting Wednesday May 27th.
This program and community is available to you at any time, but when I run a group cycle it just means that you complete the missions with other women at the same time as you. I hope you’ll join my community of Rockstars who have taken the sledgehammer to their scales and are living proof that freedom is possible!
Be Smashing!
