unhealthy body image

[AnyDream]

Ok, I'm gonna fess up here (*whispers* I weigh twice as much as you do) and strangely enough I'm quite happy with myself. Yet there was a time when I was near the bottom of my healthy weight range, and looked nearly skeletal and yet I loathed every inch of my flesh (I didn't have a very high regard for myself in other areas either). I'm telling you this so you understand that body image has nothing to do with your body's *actual* appearance.

I learnt to love my body by learning to love what it does for me. I took bellydancing classes and learnt to enjoy the sensations of dancing. I started choosing to do things because I enjoyed them and learnt to feel proud of the things I have achieved, even tho those achievements may be invisible to the next person. That's how I rebuilt my body image. It's really a big fat cliche, but it *is* about loving yourself.

Of course, it's not healthy to be as overweight as I am and I'm hoping to work on that now that I'm recovering after finishing chemo. And yeah, fatness is *not* the worst thing that can happen. I'm having a mastectomy in Dec and I'm working really hard to overcome the challenge of losing a breast, but counting my blessings every day because I'm one of the lucky ones. When you hang around near hospitals a lot like I have lately I've realised I'm not as bad off as I imagined - all sorts of young people struggle with the most incredible health challenges. Carpe diem - seize the day. Yeah how you look is kinda important, but yaknow what, it's not your lasting gift to the world. People will love you and hold you in high regard for who you are and how well you love them and what you do with your life, not how you look.