I Appreciate My Body...and Deep Fried Bread

Abbey,
I'm not sure that you will believe me but I'm not sure your aware of how many women would kill to be like you. To have the motivation and will power to work out, your working out makes me tired just thinking about it. Your beautiful inside and out! I think your smaller now than when we were in high school and would do almost anything to have a body like yours. I have been reading your posts, and I have to say they crack me up because I can so see you going off on some random ranting about the Waffle House. I know you and I have never been close friends, but I just wanted to tell at the risk of sounding like a psycho that all your hard work makes you something to be envied. So I guess part of what I'm trying to tell you is, you should take time to just be you and slow down to enjoy the moment without beating yourself up. You seem really happy with your new life and your husband seems to love you more than anything so just slow down a minute and enjoy it:)

Dear Fellow PHSian,

 

     First of all, these words are too sweet, but they are also so true. I often take the time to rant and rave about my struggles and very rarely do I focus on any successes that I might have, but I am woman, therefore, I complain and envy others.

      I do feel that I need to make the effort to change the way I communicate my thoughts. Every single day I wake up thankful to have my health, to have a working and able body, to have a husband that loves me, provides for me, and makes me feel flawless, to have God watching over me, to have all of family and friends' support, and to have Dunkin Donuts right across the street. I definitely look at other people endure real atrocities and come to my senses that I am too blessed, but you're right, I rarely focus on the positive when it comes to myself. But isn't that what we all do?

       I feel this problem is what makes up most women. You just said to me what I have said to countless people. We, as in women, as in the border line psychotic, spend more time envying others than we do appreciating ourselves. We continue to say, "I want arms like HER'S. I want a butt like HER'S. I want legs like HER'S. I want pills like HER'S." Heck, I get mad that transgender males can strut it better than I can. With all of this moaning, complaining, and envying, we never take the time to appreciate what we have and what we have worked for. As soon as I look in the mirror and start to see results that I've been killing myself for, I find myself in a classroom with a teacher's aide that is so utterly gorgeous and perfect that I ignore the UFC tournament going on in the middle of the preschool floor, come home covered in self pity and a five-year-old's boogers, and talk about her (the teacher's aide) so much that my husband questions my sexuality. But again, I woman, and I struggle with being satisfied with my appearance.

     I do have my good days, though, and I guess that's what I need to be sharing on this blog. So I'll start with saying that I do love parts of my body, like my elbows or my second to biggest toe...that's actually the best toe because it never gets in the way and always remains blister free...I also like my wrists, they feel small and feminine and have bone protrusion. Ha, there we go, praising parts of my body...never thought I'd see the day. 

      I hope you are following your own advice and you are enjoying yourself. Please know that as much as you say that you envy me for my energy and workout regimen, I envy you for having the chance to be a mother. I'd trade it all for that chance. I have two babies in heaven that I love so much and think about every time I get on the treadmill. God gave me an incredible husband, and by doing that, I know he has other blessings up his sleeve, but in due time. So again, you envy me, but I equally envy you. You're a beautiful person who only has good in her heart.

    The whole point of this blog was to examine why women feel the way that we do, and this is one, if not the number one, biggest issue: denying ourselves personal acceptance, which I will definitely examine closely and use for a future blog post. Hopefully, it will help me and others overcome that hurdle. So I thank you for your words, but I thank you most of all for bringing this issue to the forefront for the other readers. Why, ladies, are we doing this to ourselves? Hmmm...good question...don't know just yet, though. We all need to follow your advice: slow down a minute and enjoy it. However, in the time it takes me to walk across the street, purchase my Dunkin Donut regular (nothing less than a dozen and some must be cream filled), come back and eat one, two, or ten, it's more like fifteen minutes than one...so only because you insist on me taking a minute, I think I'll take fifteen ;)

 

Go Bears!, 

Flabby Abbey