A Piece of Yourself

Your body. Basically the only thing in your life that you truly own completely; it has been yours and only yours since birth, and will be the only thing you take with yourself throughout your journey in this life. It makes sense then, that its the thing many of us think about and obsess about more than anything else, including relationships, work, and dreams.

I like most other women, have obsessed about my body as long as I can remember and it clogs my mind for most of my waking hours.

Wake up: Breakfast. Think about what is nutritious, healthy, won't make me fat/gain weight/bloated
Get dressed: What fits my body, what looks good on me, what is in style, what will other people like to see.
Lunch: continuation of breakfast
Seeing co-workers: wow she looks great, I wish I could look like that. That's it, I'm not eating.

This is a vicious and RIDICULOUS cycle we are trapped in, yes, trapped. Its not easy to escape. Modern society is largely based on aesthetics. Our cars, our homes, advertising, our clothes, even our food and our pets. Rather than what is pleasing to the soul or to the mind, we choose what is pleasing to the eye. This has created a society based largely on fitting a certain "image." Today, for the most part that image is driven by models and celebrities and whatever advertising has decided to feed us for the time being. Women, are now seeing those images and get the idea into their head that it is the only and best way to look and begin to obsess. This leads us to shopping malls, hair dressers, the gym, certain grocers and restaurants. We skip meals, work our asses off at the gym, spend money we don't have to achieve this "image" that is actually completely unachievable. More women that ever are in hospitals and recovery centers for eating disorders (I have battled one myself) and bloggers are beginning to come out and erase their perfect foodie/athletic images (thank you Jordan Younger!) to tell us that this image isn't achievable, none the less healthy! What is healthy, is to be yourself and be your best.

Size is more than the number of your jeans, the style of your hair, how perfectly polished your nails are. Its about what is in your head, and your heart and how you achieve THOSE DREAMS. The image we should be trying to reach is that of peace and happiness, inner peace. Peace so when you lay your head down at night, you know you have done all you can and you are content.

How do you achieve this, you ask? Eat to nourish and fuel your dreams, write down your dreams and how you are going to achieve them, be all of yourself (no matter who that is!), do everything you can to achieve your dreams, never try to please anyone but yourself. In the end, that person who lives in your body and is on a little journey in it called life, is the only person who's ideas about it matter when you look yourself in the eye. So stop worrying about achieving a silly image that someone at a desk decided was going to matter, and matter to yourself.



In peace,

    Kelsey.

“So let us reflect on what is truly of value in life, what gives meaning to our lives, and set our priorities on the basis of that. The purpose of our life needs to be positive. We weren't born with the purpose of causing trouble, harming others. For our life to be of value, I think we must develop basic good human qualities-warmth, kindness, compassion. Then our life becomes meaningful and more peaceful-happier.”
― Dalai Lama XIV, The Art of Happiness