Your Body is Not a Burden

Your body is not a burden.


It's not something to bemoan, to pinch and prod and scrutinize and starve and force-feed.


It's not something to lord over other people, either.


It's not there for you to judge, to antagonize, or to hate.

It's not a status symbol. It's not a symbol of who you are, either. Just because you have a smokin' bod does not mean you're disciplined or healthy. Just because you have a body that is more of a work in progress does not mean you're undisciplined or unhealthy.  

No one can discern anything about your character or your worth from looking at your body.


Every thing on your body is there for a reason: your body is far, far smarter than you.


Those calluses are there so you don't rip your hands off when you deadlift your one-rep max, or so that you don't feel your sneakers rubbing against the sensitive skin on your feet when you run.


That fat on your lower back has a job, too: to protect your kidneys, so that one perfectly-landed punch won't leave you needing a transplant.


Heck, the fat everywhere on your body serves several purposes: it's the most efficient form of long-term energy storage, it protects your internal organs, and it keeps you warm. 


Right now, your body (yes, YOURS) is finding and destroying mutated (read: cancerous) cells. 


Your eyes are allowing you to see these words, and your brain is turning them into understandable thoughts. Meanwhile, your lungs are breathing, your heart is pumping, your nervous system is monitoring your environment, your pituitary gland is producing and secreting hormones, your digestive tract is churning right along and retrieving nutrients from your food, and your hair and fingernails (and maybe your muscles) are growing.


Your body is a beautiful, wonderful, powerful creation - regardless of what it looks like.