I've been seeing this meme going around lately, it's a slight variation of other memes I've seen actually. It starts out saying something like "I may not have a perfect body. I may not have a flat stomach...."
Enough!!!! I definitely haven't seen any men posting this. Why? Because the average man would NEVER think to qualify a positive statement about himself by acknowledging his self-perceived physical imperfections.
Now I totally get that this meme is supposed to be saying "it's okay that I'm not these things" but by simply stating them to begin with reduces us to our bodies, our appearance. So I'm going to come up with my own meme statement...except I'm way too unmotivated in this area to actually turn it into a meme....
"I am a holy creation having a human experience. Every day I try to maintain this vessel that has been bestowed on me for the purpose of sucking as many days as possible out of this amazing blessing called 'living on earth'. When I occasionally become distracted by superficial things like what society dictates my vessel should look like, I quickly steer my soul back to what matters: loving my fellow man, being gentle with the Earth, expanding my soul, guiding my child into adulthood with the tools he needs to live his own happy, abundant life and helping others nurture their own vessels in order to have the best experience on Earth they can."
We are ENOUGH. As is. In this moment. So, do I have a flat stomach? Absolutely not. And I've definitely struggled with my society-imposed "imperfections". Some days I still struggle but that's when I give myself a little talk about what's important and that my list of "imperfections" doesn't get to be in my "I am" statement because I'm waaaaay more precious than that. Now, that isn't to say that I don't strive to be as strong and healthy as I can be, but no longer is it so that I will look a certain way. It's so my body creates as few limitations as possible for living my most amazing life.
What should and shouldn't be in YOUR "I am" statement? Think what you would put in your daughter's or your mother's statement if you were writing it. Would you EVER start your teenage daughter's statement with acknowledging what society probably doesn't accept about her body?
Re-write your own "I am" statement to reflect the love and honor you deserve!
Enough!!!! I definitely haven't seen any men posting this. Why? Because the average man would NEVER think to qualify a positive statement about himself by acknowledging his self-perceived physical imperfections.
Now I totally get that this meme is supposed to be saying "it's okay that I'm not these things" but by simply stating them to begin with reduces us to our bodies, our appearance. So I'm going to come up with my own meme statement...except I'm way too unmotivated in this area to actually turn it into a meme....
"I am a holy creation having a human experience. Every day I try to maintain this vessel that has been bestowed on me for the purpose of sucking as many days as possible out of this amazing blessing called 'living on earth'. When I occasionally become distracted by superficial things like what society dictates my vessel should look like, I quickly steer my soul back to what matters: loving my fellow man, being gentle with the Earth, expanding my soul, guiding my child into adulthood with the tools he needs to live his own happy, abundant life and helping others nurture their own vessels in order to have the best experience on Earth they can."
We are ENOUGH. As is. In this moment. So, do I have a flat stomach? Absolutely not. And I've definitely struggled with my society-imposed "imperfections". Some days I still struggle but that's when I give myself a little talk about what's important and that my list of "imperfections" doesn't get to be in my "I am" statement because I'm waaaaay more precious than that. Now, that isn't to say that I don't strive to be as strong and healthy as I can be, but no longer is it so that I will look a certain way. It's so my body creates as few limitations as possible for living my most amazing life.
What should and shouldn't be in YOUR "I am" statement? Think what you would put in your daughter's or your mother's statement if you were writing it. Would you EVER start your teenage daughter's statement with acknowledging what society probably doesn't accept about her body?
Re-write your own "I am" statement to reflect the love and honor you deserve!
At first I was a little bothered by this post. I thought it's really easy for her to say this when she's already thin and beautiful but then I thought I know it would be really easy for you to just enjoy it and focus on it instead of working on your inside. Which ends up making you even more beautiful. I wish I didn't care so much what people thought about me. I think to when I was thin and I felt so good about myself and it made me be nicer to people. I don't know how to get thin again or how to be nice to people half the time. It all keeps me down.
ReplyDeleteWow! I wish you wouldn't have commented as anonymous. I'd really like to talk to you one on one. I can tell you're very depressed right now. And yes, you're right, it would be easy to focus on my outside right now, especially in my line of work. However, getting older combined with seeing someone very close to me struggle with cancer, makes me acutely aware that we are NOT our bodies. The physical is very fleeting and superficial. If you happen to come back and see this message, please private message me on my Facebook page and I will send you my private email. I don't know that I can help but I'd love the chance to try.
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