Lightworkers get real about their ever-changing bodies.
– KEYS SOULCARE
All relationships grow and change with time. Our relationships with our bodies are no different — whether it’s embracing getting older, giving birth, or adjusting to the gain or lack of lifelong abilities. Here are a few lightworker reflections on how their body love, talk, and understanding have changed with time.
“I have a strong body. For someone who loves an adrenaline rush, it was my body that took care of me in all of the wild and reckless things I did. As I grow in age, I’m more gentle with my body and repeat affirmations to it as if I’m talking to an old friend. It’s my turn to take care of it.” — Danusia Garrison, model
“It’s always evolving. As I enter my late forties, what used to work for me in terms of nutrition and exercise isn’t any longer. I have to admit, it’s been hard trying to navigate the world of perimenopause. (All the bread-baking during the pandemic didn’t help, either.)” — Sarah James, beauty influencer
“My relationship with my body continues to ebb and flow. We’re at the point in our relationship where I have the most gratitude I’ve ever had for everything it allows me to do. Even if I don’t always like it, I’ve decided to love it for its ability to adapt to change, take up space, feel pleasure, and cue me when I need to take better care of myself.” — Tiffany Curtis, sex educator and relationship doula
“My relationship with my body has changed so many times. Until I was in high school, I thought I looked like everyone else; my family never treated me any different. They made me feel so safe and beautiful. However, once I started using social media, I realized my “flaws.” My chest was way too broad, too masculine, too big, too unattractive to all the guys in my school. When I got to college, I was able to find my bra size for the first time, and that is when I felt seen for the first time. A small moment was life-changing because I couldn’t relate to my friends talking about wearing cute clothes and lingerie. I began to see myself as beautiful from that moment on.” — Jeneal Suquilanda, full-time student
“I have learned to accept all the details of my body and use that as fuel to continue encouraging and working on myself everyday.” — Aaron Bryce Turner, model and actor
“I’ve worked to untangle my relationship with diet culture for decades. What’s changed it the most is work in therapy and connecting with communities doing the work of dismantling ableism and fatphobia. It’s helped me understand how those systems and practices are rooted in oppression and why, once we let them go, we actually have the room to nourish ourselves (inside and out) with things that make us feel good and give us the energy to enjoy our experience in the world. So, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve worked to inch myself closer and closer to a more integrated experience of being in my body and mind.” — Grace Bonney, author
“My relationship with my body has changed drastically over time. There were phases of my life where I was extremely cruel to my body, both physically and emotionally. I was consumed by the standard of what I [thought I] should look like and how I should dress to hide what I looked like at those moments. I now adore the parts of me that I thought were flaws and once tried so hard to hide.” — Yamell Rodriguez, model
What have you learned and learned to love about your body over the years? What are you still learning? Let’s chat in the comments!
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