Why can't we just love ourselves?

So there's this catchy-ass song out called "All About That Bass" by Meghan Trainor. See below if you haven't heard it yet:

Anywhoo - it's being tagged as a self esteem anthem for women to sing along to. It talks all about loving yourself despite not being a size two, and that "every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top". This song HAS been criticized a bit because it is seen as shaming thin women, and talking about how the boys like a little more booty to hold on to at night. Well I for one don't give a shiz what the boys do or don't like. BUT REGARDLESS... I think catchy, POPULAR, songs that challenge the stereotypes created by todays pop culture is a good start. Maybe we have some work in the arena of accepting ALL women and their shapes and sizes, and supporting the idea of self esteem as not caring what anyone does or doesn't like. But this is a start. And I like it.

Back to the point...Why is it that most of us, when we look in the mirror,  pick ourselves apart? I am 100% guilty of this. I look at my legs or my butt or my tummy and wish it looked differently. Why is that? What's wrong with how it looks now? And not only that, but why do we need to look at our bodies and think they look like anything - good or bad? Why can't it just be. Why can't our bodies just BE something, a vessel, that allow us to do all of the things we want to do?

My "big" legs allow me to squat more than some guys (not going to lie that one makes me happy). They've carried me through half marathons (and more to come right Miss Dayna?!? :), they've hiked my ass up big ol' mountains, and they let me enjoy beautiful river valley walks with Dexter. Why must I look at them and only see them as looking a certain way, and on top of that being upset they don't look the way that someone else's does? Why is it that we reduce our bodies to looking a certain way? Why is THAT what it's all about? 

It needs to stop. 

I'm part of this amazing group of women on Facebook that was brought together by a fitness program of all things. A lovely lady by the name of Amanda Adams, who I follow on Instagram, created a fitness program and I thought "Hey, why not?!". Well little did I know, her program and the group that we were a part of changed my life. She's trying to change the face of fitness. And the way women feel about themselves. It's not just about abs, and a certain workout to make you look a certain way and eating asparagus and chicken breast day in and day out. It's about balance, loving yourself, living your life, and being happy. My blog today, was inspired by hers and you should check it out: http://www.amandaadams.com/dressingroom/

In Amanda's blog she says "Well, I want to change it. (she's referring to our mindsets about our bodies) How do we? In a perfect world, women would focus more on taking care of their bodies for health reasons instead of pant sizes. In a perfect world for me, women of all sizes would be taking as many dang selfies as they want because they feel f-ing good about themselves, and buy that dress because it makes their eyes pop. They wouldn’t be scared that someone would come back with a negative comment about their wardrobe, or worse, their body. In a perfect world,women would compliment other women, “Dang girl, you look good!” even if they couldn’t relate to their goal, their lifestyle or agreed on their wardrobe choice."

One of my beautiful friends, Natalie Marshall, (http://www.happyrockinlife.com ) that I met through the Amanda Adams Fitness program posted this beautiful video that really struck a chord with me:

As Natalie asked - can we challenge ourselves to stop this negative talk? Can we stop justifying the place we are at now? And just love where we are, and who we are, and move forward from there?

There's NOTHING wrong with having goals. There's NOTHING wrong with wanting to create change for yourself. But can't we do it from a place of "I'm the shit already, and I want to be even more awesome"? Can we set goals and challenge ourselves from a place of love? We should be loving where we are currently at, while deciding that we want to do more, do better, and treat our bodies better because it feels good, and because it gives us energy to have fun and live life.

And can we decide that we are going to stop this negative self talk shit? Seriously. The young girls in this world see it, they hear it, and it changes them. And as much as none of us that do this sort of thing ever intend to hurt these young girls - the bottom line is we are. Lets stop that. And in the process we get to be happier too!

We need more people in the world like the ones above. We need more people in the world to say EFFFF photoshop, EFFFF hating on our bodies, EFFFF "perfection", and EFFFF putting anyone down - be it ourselves or others. Can you be that person?

As a final note - we need more people who say things like this:

I had this conversation with a beautiful young girl in my life. And it made my heart smile to read this. Being healthy, working out, and all of that stuff is about so much more than looking a certain way. Lets focus our health and fitness efforts on they way we feel, and how it can aid us in living a great life full of energy, fun, and happiness with those that we love. 

Eff the rest of it :)

- Elyse