I Believe In You, Body

My body,

You’ve been through a rollercoaster ride every year I’ve taken notice of your physical appearance.

I used to think you weren’t healthy, beautiful, or perfect. I used to think you were ordinary, in a world that I believed was extraordinary.

I used to think you weren’t enough.

And for this, I sincerely apologize.

Body, when I began this journey of self-love, I realized how challenging it is for me to truly love myself if I can’t even appreciate how I look on the outside. It’s taken me a long time to truly look in the mirror and see how much I’ve neglected you for the sake of other selfish thoughts I dragged into my head.

When I finally saw you for you, I couldn’t help but wonder how I’d ever let you become this unrecognizable and, most especially, unloved.

It doesn’t help that others, even professionals, have commented on how unhealthy you’ve become. I feel like scolding myself a thousand times because of my immature actions, but even so, scolding won’t do anything to heal you now, will it?

Please don’t take this the wrong way, Body. Healing you doesn’t mean I don’t accept and love you.

That scar on your side, I cherish it. It is the sole reason that I am still breathing to this day. Those freckles and moles speckling your being, I adore them. They add little sparks to that beautiful skin of yours. Your brown skin color, I’m proud to wear it.

The blemishes that appear are the natural ways that you communicate how you’re feeling, and just like the challenges in our lives, our blemishes are temporary. Surely, they may not be pleasing to look at, but that’s a reminder that you are beautifully imperfect, and I wouldn’t want to have it any other way.

Body, you’ve heard unpleasant commentary and witnessed red clouds along the way. For those, I sincerely apologize.

I can’t do anything to change the past, but as I promised you years ago, I won’t let you down ever again. I may stumble a bit every now and then, but I won’t let others knock me down as they did previously.

You mean so much to me and I’m grateful to have this chance to nurture and praise you for all of your natural beauty and flaws. With you, I have been capable of achieving many things – waking up, walking, writing, and working – to name a few but some of the most glossed-over activities that you continue to bless me with.

We have come a long way from where we used to be, and we still have quite a trek to go through, but I believe in you, Body.

There are still some habits we must rid of and new habits to form. The first few weeks, or even months, will mock and torment us. We did it once before, so we could definitely go above and beyond the limits we originally set for ourselves.

You are worth the challenge.

You are worth the healing.

You are worth the love, Body.

We are one and the same, and I promise to worship and cherish you for as long as we’re together in this life.