Loving The Skin You Are In

From as far back as I can remember I always found flaws with my body. It was acne, a small chest, the cellulite I had, etc. It was literally always something. I remember going through a time in college where I broke out so bad I hated leaving the house. I hated wearing a bathing suit in front of anyone. I always compared myself to others. That is just a few things.

Now, my body has gone through two pregnancies and two years of breast feeding. To say the least, I’m far from perfect :-) I’m thin but my stomach is very flabby, my butt sags, and my chest is far from perky. The thing is, something happened along the way. I began to love the skin I’m in. This is me and I love me……”flaws” and all. When I really think about it, they are not flaws; they are characteristics that are simply me. I’ll probably never have six pack abs, a butt that doesn’t sag, or perfect skin but I am OK with this. I wear a bathing suit in front of people and I don’t care what I look like or even what other people think. I have faint acne marks on my face that I no longer cover up because I’m not embarrassed by them. The list goes on.

The other night I was practicing yoga in a sports bra and boy shorts and I asked my husband to take pictures. The only reason I did this was so I could compare my poses to the poses in the book to ensure I was holding the asanas properly.  The end result was very interesting. As I looked at some of the photos I felt like I was looking at someone else. As I mentioned, I’ve begun to love the skin I’m in but I still think I never truly saw me. When I saw myself in some of the pictures I thought to myself “wow, my legs actually are a bit toned” or “my butt doesn’t sag as much as I thought it did”. Don’t get me wrong, please, I’m not conceded at all! It just amazes me how we can see ourselves in distorted ways, like how I used to see myself. I never really appreciated myself the way I should and the way you should all appreciate yourselves.

It’s been an amazing experience and transformation for me. Life becomes so much easier when you learn to accept and love your inner and outer self just the way you are. In reality, we are all beautiful. 

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