Love the Bod

The Woman on p. 194

Glamour received waves of appreciation and praise after including this jaw-dropping photo in their September issue. They wanted to feature a model for an article about feeling comfortable in your own skin who looked the way she was — “sitting in her underwear with a smile on her face and a belly that looks…wait for it…normal.”

Body image is a tricky issue. While some people get simple ‘bad hair day’ moments, there are others who battle demons of insecurity their whole lives.

I was one of those people. I would constantly look at myself in the mirror and complain about being too fat or too thin, too tall or too short… nothing seemed to satisfy me. I would starve myself, binge, over-exercise, what have you.

How you see yourself can really affect your habits and how you respond to things that need work in your life, like your health. I knew I hit rock bottom when I found myself not doing anything at all but mope in bed the whole day… or week. That is how crippling it can be.

Letters to My Body is a new project by the creator of joggerslife.com. It has a PostSecret vibe to it, but geared towards celebrating your body. LTMB says that you “will only have one body”, and we should “treat this body the best that we are capable of treating it. Being kind to yourself and your body is the only solution to a happy, healthy, balanced life.” LTMB encourages people to write to their bodies and send them to the site anonymously to candidly “foster body kindness and promote stronger self-esteem, one letter at a time.” Visit the link to learn how to submit yours.