Your body and I have a lot in common. I want you to want me. Call me naïve, but I want you to read the blog posts I publish and the newsletters I send out because they are from me – not because they have some snappy “hot headline.” Although I have to admit, I do enjoy a good Cheap Trick… (Pun totally intended – it was the inspiration for this post!)
I want you to want me. I want to connect with you – as does your body. But your body and I both struggle to reach you. We have to compete with the noise of the world for your attention. And we often get lost among the flashy photoshopped images, the hot headlines, the cool copy, the click-bait and the next thing on your “to-do” list.
Your body and I want more than that. We want a relationship – a friendship – with you.
Now I realize that we’ve probably never actually met and to call ourselves friends is rather presumptuous – even if we do happen to be connected on various social media platforms. So in this day and age what is a friend, exactly? Could I really be your friend? And more importantly, could your body be your friend??
Merriam-Webster offers five definitions of “friend” – three of which are relevant to the discussion at hand.
1) One attached to another by affection or esteem,
2) One that is not hostile, and
3) A favored companion.
Now I recognize that at this particular moment in time neither your body nor I are likely to fall into the “favored companion” category. I’m just some random girl out here in cyberspace who teaches how to heal and transform weight and body issues. And if you’ve done enough Google searches to find me in the first place, I’m guessing that you consider your body to be more of a foe than a friend.
And based on this bit of conjecture, your body and I probably don’t fall into the first definition of friend either (one attached to another by affection or esteem).
But what about the second definition of friend?? The one that is not hostile? Could we start there?
Perhaps… perhaps not. In this case, it might be easier for you to see me as the “one that is not hostile” than it might be for you to see your body that way – especially if you’ve painfully and shamefully struggled with your weight.
Which brings us back to why I want you to want me. I can help you heal your relationship with your body – so that your body can help you heal your food and weight issues.
It might be too much to ask of you to see your body as a friend right now. So think of me as your friend. And treat the emails, blogs and social media posts from me the same way as you would treat emails and posts from your other friends. You read them and engage with them because of who sent them – not because of a headline.
By treating me as your friend, we can engage in a conversation. This conversation can provide insights, perspectives and principles to help you feel better about yourself and your body. And if you feel better about your body, you may even come to see it as your friend. And when you see your body as your friend, your entire life experience can change. You have the skills, tools and allies to create a body AND life you love!