In a world filled with scrolls, taps, likes, and swipes, it is no wonder that we play the comparison game with our social circles, family members, celebrities, and models. You think you have the perfect body, the greatest wardrobe, the best job or internship…until you don’t. With body shape, size and type this is a particularly dangerous game to play. If we look at our family lineage we most certainly will notice the resemblence from one generation to the next; in our hair textures, eye colors, skin tones, the shapes of our noses and mouths, and yes, in the shapes and sizes of our family members’ bodies. Very little can counteract the framework of the bodies we are meant to grow into during the glorious years of puberty. Just as we cannot dictate height we also cannot dictate the shape and size our unique bodies feel comfortable at, AKA the shape and size within which your body will function and feel at it’s best.
There are many markers of health, but weight is certianly not one of them nor should it be a marker of success, happiness, or worthiness. There are bodies of all different shapes and sizes that are able to run marathons, shoot 3-pointers, throw javelins, slalom ski olympian courses, and live and breathe feeling their best everyday. These varying bodies get their annual exams and their blood work shows prestine health. But their BMI is considered “overweight” or even “obese,” how could this be? Because weight is not what the media has made it out to be. Your body should not make you who you are, but rather should simply act as a vehicle for living an active, full life.
Of course, we can nourish our bodies with delicious and nutritious food more often than not and we can move joyfully, but unless we take extreme measures, that framework passed down from your great-grandmother is not going to budge. AND WE SHOULDN’T WANT IT TO. It’s time we think of the traits we get from our great grandparents, parents, uncles, and aunts as heirlooms; precious gems that remind us of their existence, an existence that created our very beings. Without our wonderful elders we wouldnt be living, breathing, and laughing each and everyday. It’s time we thank them for the framework they have given us instead of resent them for the (wonderful) imperfections that these frameworks come with. #Gratitiude