Do You Have The End Of Summer Body Blues?
Are you feeling in a funk about your body lately?
If you are, you are not alone.
We are about 10 weeks (or more!) into hot weather. Aka 10 weeks into swimsuits, tank tops, and shorts. Butt sweat, boob sweat and chaffing.
For many of us we have been in a different routine (I’m playing fast and loose with the word routine here). Meals may be more on the fly and movement may be more on the fly… or not happening at all (it is HOT after all).
It makes sense that you might feel particularly out of sorts and particularly so about your body.
A little something I like to call the body blues.
But I am here to remind you that your body is not the reason why you are uncomfortable, you are uncomfortable because of the things you have been told about bodies and what they should and shouldn’t do or be and these messages get really loud in the summer.
Things like:
Thighs shouldn’t rub together
Your arms should be toned
Only cellulite free legs deserve shorts
Shorts should not ride up
Your stomach should be flat
Meals should meet a certain standard ALL the time
You should always be out there exercising #noexcuses
When you are feeling the body blues, it’s easy to want to count down the days to fall. To when your body is covered up more, when you feel less self conscious, when you feel more comfortable.
But there is beautiful work that you can do in the discomfort of summer.
Instead of wishing these final weeks of summer away, what if you extended an olive branch to your body in an attempt to grow closer to it?
What if you decided to:
Put those legs in some shorts and feel the breeze
Cool off in the pool instead of staying by the side covered up
Say ‘thank you’ to your body instead of ‘you’re gross’
Get in the picture instead of hiding your body
Lovingly caress those rolls on your stomach instead of pinching them
Cut yourself a break on the negative self talk because meals have been so haphazard- remember it’s a season.
And what if you did it in the name of loving care for your body? Or as an act of defiance to the things you have been told about bodies?
What if you used these last weeks of summer to take a stand to be FOR your body instead of against it?
If that feels more than you are ready for right now, that is ok. If you leave with anything, I hope you take the message with you that the body blues are not your body’s fault, but the fault of the messages that impact the way you see your body.
