When we’re not where we want to be or when we have a particularly rough day at the gym, it’s easy to get frustrated with and even angry at our bodies. Have you ever stood in front of the mirror and cursed your belly, wrinkled your face at the sight of a jiggly thigh, sighed in exasperation after a fruitless search for some muscle definition, or berated yourself for being too slow, too fat, too ugly, too weak, too inflexible, too unmotivated, or in any other way not enough?
Enough. Really.
I won’t say it’s natural to do this, because I really don’t believe we were meant to be at such odds with our bodies. So let’s just call it common. It happens. We do this to ourselves, and it’s brutal–but it’s not natural.
We have to the power to stop it. We’re in control of every thought that goes through our heads, if we want to be. Let’s decide to take that control and start turning every one of those negative thoughts into an offering of thanks for who we are and what we can do. Start here.
(You can direct this gratitude to anything or anyone you’d like: God, the universe, your parents, yourself.)
Giving thanks for this body.
It’s doing things I don’t even know it’s doing. It’s doing things I’m not even asking it to do. In every moment, it is working to not only keep me alive, but to keep me healthy and thriving.
Sometimes I ask it to do really hard, really uncomfortable activities, and it does them. And it responds to those activities by learning and growing and getting stronger.
It wants to be energetic. It wants to move. I am so grateful for it.
Giving thanks for the progress I’ve made.
Every little victory is a big victory. Doing one extra push-up, running one extra mile–these are the ways I like to measure progress. In fitness, “1” is a big, big number.
Giving thanks for showing up.
It’s not always easy to go to the gym, but breaking that little promise to myself and staying home doesn’t feel any better. I honor my commitment to fitness and I show up, even if my workouts aren’t as intense as they used to be; even if this workout isn’t as intense as yesterday’s. They’re all worthwhile.
Giving thanks for my gym.
I love my gym. I love the classes I take there. I love the teachers who lead them. I am grateful for the opportunity that gym provides me to exercise in a way I love.
Giving thanks for the difficulty.
It’s empowering to realize what you’re capable of. In my experience, it has always been more than I thought.
I’m grateful for the way I feel after a hard workout, like I’ve really done something, like I’ve made progress.
Giving thanks for my persistence.
Maybe it’s taking longer than I thought. Maybe I’m not where I think I should be. But I’m still trying. Every day, I’ll keep trying, and bit by bit I’ll get there.
Giving thanks for my uniqueness.
Thank goodness my body is unlike anyone else’s. How do I know that bigger boobs or smaller thighs or straighter teeth would be so great, anyway?
I’ve been using what I’ve got for the last 33 years, and I’ve done some amazing things with it. What would have been different if I’d been shorter or less flexible? Would it have been better?
Maybe, maybe not. But there’s no point in wondering. There’s no point in comparing myself and what I can do to someone with longer legs or a smaller waist, to someone who has played tennis since he was three years old, to someone who pays a trainer to come to her house twice a day. Each body is different. Each circumstance is different. And none are “better”.
I’ve got this body. I’m using this body. I’m loving this body.
I’m grateful for this body.