am I allowed to love myself?

Our culture places an big emphasis on disliking yourself. As a woman, I feel pressure to find and label parts of myself that I don't like. Individuals identify their "thunder thighs," "bubble butts," "Buddha bellies" and "jiggly arms." We admit that we cry too much, worry to much and eat too much. We aren't kind enough, aren't fun enough and aren't dedicated enough. We are constantly searching for things like these to point out to others - because it would be just awful to say "look how strong I look today!" or "I'm thrilled with the clarity of my mind!"

But why?

Why does our culture tell us that it's not OK to find things about yourself that you love? You don't have to go shouting them from the rooftops, but reminding yourself of them shouldn't be hard. Yet it is. It is SO hard to identify things about ourselves that we like.

For me, I think it traces back to being insecure. If I think that I have a pretty banging set of legs but a stranger on the street looks at me and thinks to themselves "that chic has got BIG legs," it would humiliate me. I don't know why - but it would.

A few years back a guy I was seeing asked me what my favorite part of my body was. I legitimately didn't have an answer for him. In that moment, I couldn't think of a single thing about myself that I liked. Granted, we were in a pretty unhealthy relationship where he was extremely critical and cold to me, but I tried unbearably hard to please him. I was terrified that I would say "well, I really love my butt" and he would snap back "well I think it's huge." and that would be that. So I couldn't say anything. I literally said "I can't really think of anything about myself that I like."

Thankfully, that relationship ended and I've moved forward. And I really want to announce to anyone who is reading this, that I genuinely love myself. I love so many things about myself! My arms are strong. I am thoughtful. I am good at my job. I have a deliciously round butt. I am a good knitter. I am flexible. I love myself so very much.

Loving oneself doesn't mean that you think you are perfect. I sure as hell know that I'm not perfect. I'm trying not to find happiness in food and I'm trying to get in better shape. I'd love to find a partner to share my life with. But those things are OK, and they will come if they are meant to. But no matter what happens, I love myself first and foremost.

What's not to love?
PS these awesome pants are by NUX, but are on sale right now at jazzercise.com.
SUCH a good deal!