Dear Body,
I know that over the years, I have not treated you right. I’ve poked at you, berated you and wanted you to be different. All this animosity I created between the two of us only tore us down together. I want to make things better, to rekindle our bond.
I want to say I’m sorry. I’m sorry for taking you for granted. The hard work you do regardless of what I eat or drink and how much or little I sleep. The countless nights we’ve been up together trying to get things done or sort this from that. The endless days of wishing we looked different or wishing that you looked different.
How foolish of me to separate us in such a way. I regret dividing our existence and our wellbeing, thinking that I would be happier if YOU looked different when WE could be happier with who we are.
From now on, I’ll embrace our blemishes, scars and stretchmarks. I will learn to admire the way we move and the ways in which we work together to heal from the hurt that is inflicted upon us by the world. I’ll no longer hurt you with the sharpness of mean words or cold steel. If we want to be different, we will work to get there together, but I won’t change you because of someone else. You will bleed how you choose, and I will help keep you safe.
The way you look, the way you feel – I will learn to accept you. Your natural functions and the way you want us to be, I will learn to live with you in harmony.
Thank you for the tears you have endured. Thank you for the laughter and the smiles that we have felt together. Thank you for being able to feel such an array of emotions – some more than most, some more often than others.
I won’t plaster labels on you or let other people tell me how you should look. We will be who we want to be and look the way we want to look. From the feet we place on the ground to the legs, thighs, stomach, breasts to shoulders, to my nose and the top of my head – you are gorgeous.
Every precious bump, curve and roll are what I will cherish from here on out. Oh, Body. You have been so beautiful all along. The way you bend, stretch and even slip on that mysterious patch of ice that I swear wasn’t there before.
I will cherish the way our fingers look – no matter how smooth, wrinkly, chubby or slim. Because we can carry things together. Our arms, their strength and the way they help me hold the people that I love and care for. The way our calves, thighs, bum and feet work together to help us lounge around, run, dance and move to get places we want to be.
Our mind. The one that works day and night to keep us going, thinking and moving. Though it can sometimes run astray, we will care for it together and help ourselves heal from all the trauma, hurt and sadness.
Our torment, turmoil, joy and happiness are worth it all because we will work together to exist. It is because we exist together that we are able to experience all that life has to offer.
I promise I will treat you better.
With all my love,
Your Person.