"I LOVE MY BODY"

...or so society tells me I have to think this. In this new age of body acceptance, we are told that we are to accept how are bodies look & LOVE it! I get it, I really do. As a mom of an 11 year old girl and a 14 year old boy, I want my kids to have a healthier image of themselves than I did when I was young. I hated my body back then, because people told me I wasn't enough. I wasn't skinny enough, I wasn't tall enough, my boobs weren't big enough, etc. I look back at pictures and I'd give anything NOW to look as good as I did. 

My kids have great little bodies, but even they feel the pressures of society and wish they were skinnier.

"I love my body" is the biggest lie I could tell myself. Why do people force that down our throats, especially when it's, alot of times, the furthest thing from the truth.

Why should I love something that betrays me more often than not? Why should I celebrate a body that can't even digest it's food properly? Why should I be proud of the fact that my skin is so sick, it keeps me up all night in pain? Why in the world would I love this vessel when it can't follow the rules of nature and do what it's supposed to?

WHY?!

I hate this body, most days. If I'm being honest. It's gross and naughty.

But then I remind myself, it's strong. It housed & birthed 2 special souls. It has sustained my life through things I've never thought I'd get through. It can still complete a workout(no matter how much it retaliates against me).

I look in the mirror & see this broken body staring back at me.

But that's just it, isn't it? It's STILL staring back at me. It hasn't COMPLETELY failed me yet.

So I should love it, right?!

(HA! I wouldn't go that far...)

Let's just say I'll ACCEPT it.

And isn't that truly what "Body Acceptance" means?