SHOULD WE SAY “FUCK YOU” TO THE BODY LOVE MOVEMENT?

“Let’s be clear – your BODY is not YOU. Self love is not body love. Your body is not your self. Your body is your physical house, and if it’s in disorder then that IS an issue.” – Katrina Ruth.

I read this quote in a blog this morning, and it made me stop and think.

I think there is a big problem with the body love movement. I believe it’s really important to love yourself and accept yourself as you are, but the big flaw in this movement is that it does not encourage change where it is needed.

You can love yourself, and accept yourself, and still want to change.

There’s a difference between accepting yourSELF, and accepting your BODY. You can love yourself and reject the body you are in.

That’s what every person who chooses to lose weight or in any way change their body for the better does anyway.

I believe caring for yourself IS self-love. To say “I love myself” and use that as an excuse to continue to abuse your body is not self-love at all. Self-love is nourishing the vessel that carries your soul. It’s moving it and keeping it active.

It’s living in a way that makes you physically (and mentally) FEEL good, and capable, and able. It’s not living in a permanently lethargic state, with poor digestion, stomach cramps, unable to run around with your children, unable to engage in fun activities because they are too physical.

I’m sorry, but no matter how much you declare to love yourself, that doesn’t look like self-love to me (actually I’m not sorry for that). In fact it looks like self-abuse and self-hatred.

In fact, I’m convinced, because I used to abuse myself in the same way. Only when I started to take care of my body did I discover deep down happiness. You can say what you like about what that means, but after years and years of depression it finally lifted when I knuckled down, lost the weight and got fit.

And it’s NOT all about how you look.

In fact, it’s VERY LITTLE to do with how you look.

It’s the accomplishment, the achievements of doing good things for yourself and your body.

KNOWING you are on track to a healthier body, both in the long term (preventing heart and other weight-related diseases) and short term (feeling more energetic, better digestion etc).

Another quote from Katrina Ruth: “You can love yourself and accept your SELF and also not accept the state the physical you is in. In fact – one begets the other, I would say!”

Yeah, I agree. Because your self is not your body.

So go ahead and make the necessary changes. Do it from a place of love.

“I love myself and THEREFORE I do not accept this unhealthy body I have created. For the love of myself, I am going to change it. I am going to reflect my self-love in how I treat my physical vessel, because I deserve to be healthy and FEEL good both inside and out.”

This is the sort of message we should be saying to ourselves.

RG x

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