Mindy Kaling
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Saturday, May 10, 2014
R.E.S.P.E.C.T
We all want to be respected right?
Shout it from the rooftops, walk away from people who don't give it
to us or strive to earn it from others. What about respecting
yourself? The same goes for love and care and the warm fuzzies we so
desperately seek from everyone. Everyone but ourselves.
The self respect and love I talk about
here may not fit the standard definition of what these words may mean
to you. Here it is about loving and respecting your body and mind in
the best way you can for yourself. I have finally reached a stage of
body image acceptance, for the most part love myself and can honestly
say my self esteem is much more solid than it ever was; but I realise
it is all incomplete because lately I have been neglecting to respect
my body in one hugely important way – taking care of it.
The past year has been tough.
Emotionally a mine field with super high highs and very low lows. The
end of a marriage, the start of a new life, loss of people I truly
loved and gaining intriguing new experiences too. While I have been
absolutely super at taking care of my emotional health, my physical
health has been pushed aside and how. I try and challenge myself
creatively and intellectually but physically errrm … not so much. I
indulged my every possible indulgence and have gone from one extreme
to another in terms of what gives me pleasure, whether it was good
for me or not.
I do that. I know I'm prone to extremes
when it comes to taking care of my body. It has been a binge and
purge cycle. And now I can feel the after effects! I also openly
admit that I am lazy and a complete hedonist so I realise that I have
been looking at this the wrong way. Therefore, am beginning to retrain
myself to acknowledge that respecting my body by treating it better
with things like exercise for example is not a punishment, it is a
pleasure. A pleasure to feel your body move and do things better and
better. And yes even a pleasure to bite into that piece of chocolate after. A pleasure to be able to be still healthy enough to do these
things in the first place! It is a slow process but it is a start :)
For you it might be a different journey; you might be fabulous at
taking care of your psychical health but struggle with the emotional
or need to remind yourself to take a breather every now and then. We
all respect yourselves in different ways or don't for that matter.
I personally want to respect my
body in a more wholistic way not only because of wanting to look
better but so I FEEL better. This includes curtailing certain things
I know aren't the best for me, moving more, challenging myself and
fuelling myself better. AND
continue to love myself for who and what I am, wobbly bits and all.
Whether
it's about the body or the soul, I know there will be days when we
fail spectacularly. Fall flat on our faces
and wonder if it's all worth it. Remind yourself as I plan
to -
that it is, it
always is.
Respect and love yourself enough to pick up, dust off and move on and not bash yourself up every time you falter.
Find a balance that
makes you happy
and feels authentic to you.
If
there is anything this past year has taught me, it is that I am far
stronger and more amazing than I think ;) It is time to respect and
love myself in different ways to enjoy just that!
Are
you making changes to the way you think? What does self respect or
self care mean to you?
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