The B word...

An article came across my twitter feed today that has me thinking.  A lot.  And not about stuff I wanted to think about.... About stuff I've been trying really, really hard to avoid thinking about.

Body Image.

I'm not a fan of my body.  I know I don't "fit in" with how society thinks I should look.  I did... until I was about 9 years old.  Then puberty hit.  It hit me hard.  And I've been hard on myself ever since.

I know I should just accept my body as it is and move on, but I can't.  I'm sure there are millions of people that deal with what I deal with, and I truly don't know how they do it.  I just know that I don't do it well.  At all.
 
I'm rather tired of living in this body. I know I shouldn't be.  Instead, I should be grateful that I have a body that works, despite a few hiccups.  I have legs and feet that will carry me wherever I want.  I have clear vision (as long as my glasses are on) and good hearing and I can smell chocolate chip cookies baking a block away.  I can talk.  I can read.  I can draw.  I can type.  I can think.  I can breathe.  I can teach.  I can make people smile.  I can make people laugh.  I can be a good listener.  I can make magic happen on computers... I can do all sorts of things, actually.

Why can't I be grateful for that?  I mean, I have sooooo many good things going for me... Why do I let this "image" issue create such chaos for me?  It makes everything hard.  I seem to be the only person that has a problem with the way I look, too.  No one ever says anything to me, but.... they don't need to.  I say it to myself.

Here's a link to the article... the title itself says a lot: Stop Fighting Against Yourself and Start Fighting for Yourself