Dear body…

February is the month of love and with NEDA awareness week coming up on Feb 26th I wanted to shift toward something that has been very important me. Learning to love my body and accepting the body God has given me.

Growing up I used to get made fun of my height and even now I still hear comments. The only difference is that I learned to accept the fact that we were all made different. It wasn’t always easy but I know it was going to take a lot to get there. So in short I would like to write a short letter to my body. Sounds weird I know but I found this exercise and thought it would be a good reminder.

Dear Body,

I once despised you. I would wake up each morning and hope that when I woke up I would be taller and thinner. I was tired of hearing comments about my height, how thick my thighs are, how fish like my lips are, and about how small my eyes are. I was my biggest enemy and wondered why I would hurt you. I found comfort in “controlling” my eating in the worst way possible. I felt “alive” and “happy” but internally I was a mess. I treated you like crap because of the insecurities and actions that caused me to cause you pain. I’m sorry that I never thought you were good enough and expecting you to change to fit societies standards.

I will continue to work on you and treat you as healthy as possible. I thank the Lord for showing me grace and saving you when I thought I could no longer be saved. I appreciate my height because I learned we are all of different sizes. I learned to exercise in a healthy way and appreciate the small victories. I learn to love researching nutrients and foods to nourish you. I appreciate you working through the struggles of building back my knee strength after my knee incident. I learn to love the size of my lips, my eyes and the freckles on my face. I feel that it will always be a work in progress but I promise to treat you better. I promise to always take care of you and seek help when I feel low. Thank you for never giving up on me.

With love,

Jackie