I really loved this piece, Emily. I really love the questions you included-so important and also powerful to notice these things. Such an important reminder to love our bodies and ourselves as they are now.
So incredibly moved and inspired by your body story, Emily! I heard about it over at A Writing Room. The requirement of perfection is so insidious and debilitating in its own right. Thanks so much for reminding me to step back into the present and love me as I am.
I'm glad that you made your way here, Joanne. You are right about the requirement of perfection, and you are so welcome, I am glad there is one person doing it with me.
I do find that getting older does a good job of coaxing me to relax about body expectations. I am often inspired by older women in particular who celebrate their changes and allow themselves to be more free and often quirky (and comfortable!) in their body expression.
Years of gratitude journaling taught me that the comfort of my cats, the pleasure of a hot shower, and the safety of my own apartment were more important than all the exterior goals I’d set for myself. There’s more internal peace now that I’ve come to terms with my body and that permanent lack of independence. Instead of berating ourselves, posts like this ask us to remember what’s really important in life. Happy birthday!
Thank you Gia for the birthday wish. :) And yes, I am feeling a lot more peace as I've slowly accepted the permanent lack of independence as well these past months- something I've resisted for so long. Thank you for sharing your experience as well, what a great model of how to orient when you have disability or chronic illness. I appreciate you!
Wild how it's all about reframing, isn't? :) Have you ever read Viktor Frankl's "Search for Meaning"? I would posit that his thesis for resilience--in his specific case, as a survivor of the Holocaust--is to transform the "why" we ask ourselves into an explanation that makes sense to us, the "because" that answers our question for us and us alone.
Oh, I've done this over and over, too. I think I am getting better at softening when I have a flare, and focusing on caring for myself and finding joy where I can. I'm trying not to wait anymore to do what brings me joy as much as I can. It's so many little things, but it really changes everything.
Ooooh, I love that you aren't waiting to do the things that bring you joy as much as you can. I will definitely get inspired by that more. Thank you for sharing, glad that we aren't alone in learning how to do this. <3 <3
Thank you for sharing your journey towards all that’s worthy of loving in the body you have versus the one you want. I recognise the bargaining of ‘I’ll love my body when ….’ And appreciate your invitation to make that ‘when’ simply be ‘now’. With all that is. And isn’t. And I so love your new measures of success. What a world it would be if they were universalised.
Iona, yes!! I absolutely love the observation of what a world it would be if these new measures of success were universalised. What a relief that would be - just imagining it now and my body goes ouff. Thank you for sharing your resonance. I really appreciate it.
I really loved this piece, Emily. I really love the questions you included-so important and also powerful to notice these things. Such an important reminder to love our bodies and ourselves as they are now.
Thank you so much Tiffany! :) I am glad you liked the questions. I keep reminding myself of them daily.
So incredibly moved and inspired by your body story, Emily! I heard about it over at A Writing Room. The requirement of perfection is so insidious and debilitating in its own right. Thanks so much for reminding me to step back into the present and love me as I am.
I'm glad that you made your way here, Joanne. You are right about the requirement of perfection, and you are so welcome, I am glad there is one person doing it with me.
I do find that getting older does a good job of coaxing me to relax about body expectations. I am often inspired by older women in particular who celebrate their changes and allow themselves to be more free and often quirky (and comfortable!) in their body expression.
Years of gratitude journaling taught me that the comfort of my cats, the pleasure of a hot shower, and the safety of my own apartment were more important than all the exterior goals I’d set for myself. There’s more internal peace now that I’ve come to terms with my body and that permanent lack of independence. Instead of berating ourselves, posts like this ask us to remember what’s really important in life. Happy birthday!
Thank you Gia for the birthday wish. :) And yes, I am feeling a lot more peace as I've slowly accepted the permanent lack of independence as well these past months- something I've resisted for so long. Thank you for sharing your experience as well, what a great model of how to orient when you have disability or chronic illness. I appreciate you!
Wild how it's all about reframing, isn't? :) Have you ever read Viktor Frankl's "Search for Meaning"? I would posit that his thesis for resilience--in his specific case, as a survivor of the Holocaust--is to transform the "why" we ask ourselves into an explanation that makes sense to us, the "because" that answers our question for us and us alone.
Oh, I've done this over and over, too. I think I am getting better at softening when I have a flare, and focusing on caring for myself and finding joy where I can. I'm trying not to wait anymore to do what brings me joy as much as I can. It's so many little things, but it really changes everything.
Ooooh, I love that you aren't waiting to do the things that bring you joy as much as you can. I will definitely get inspired by that more. Thank you for sharing, glad that we aren't alone in learning how to do this. <3 <3
Thank you for sharing your journey towards all that’s worthy of loving in the body you have versus the one you want. I recognise the bargaining of ‘I’ll love my body when ….’ And appreciate your invitation to make that ‘when’ simply be ‘now’. With all that is. And isn’t. And I so love your new measures of success. What a world it would be if they were universalised.
Iona, yes!! I absolutely love the observation of what a world it would be if these new measures of success were universalised. What a relief that would be - just imagining it now and my body goes ouff. Thank you for sharing your resonance. I really appreciate it.
It seems to be a theme! You might enjoy the ‘success metrics’ poem in this post x
https://open.substack.com/pub/poetrypals/p/journaling-and-poetry?r=164mqn&utm_medium=ios