10 REASONS YOU SHOULD LOVE YOUR BODY NO MATTER WHAT OTHERS SAY
You could be so pretty, if only you lost weight.”
“You eat such healthy food, why are you fat?”
“I’m glad you didn’t ask me to pay for that, because I don’t think you should be drinking something with that many calories.”
These are actual comments that people shared with me when I asked them about the nastiest things other people have said about their bodies.
If you’ve ever received a crazy comment like any of the above, you’d be familiar with the feelings that flood your entire being immediately after: Incredulity, shock, anger, embarrassment and maybe even shame.
I know how I felt when I was 22 pounds overweight and asked: “Why are you so fat?”—I wanted to dig a hole in the ground and never come out.
But I didn’t. And here are 10 reasons why you shouldn’t either.
1. The only opinion that matters is yours
“Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown your own inner voice,” said Steve Jobs in his commencement speech at Stanford University in 2005, and he was right.
Ask yourself these questions: What do you want? What’s important to you? How can you get there?
Be true to yourself. Your answers to these questions will be the beacon that guides you to the values that are most important to you, and the more you’re in touch with them, the less likely you’ll be swayed by nasty, insensitive comments about your body.
There are, however, exceptions to this rule: If someone you love thinks that you might be doing something that could be harming your well-being or the people around you, their opinion should be considered; off-hand, thoughtless comments by acquaintance and strangers? Not so much.
Whatever your goal is, regardless of whether it’s fat loss, weight gain, or simply building your body confidence, focus on the things that will bring out your healthiest, happiest self instead of spending your time reacting to other people’s opinions about what you should look like, eat, or wear.
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