What if you treated your body like your loved one?
Picture someone you love, right now, someone you’re very close with, someone you trust and value greatly. Take a moment to sit with the feeling. That person matters to you. That person is with you through everything in life, always by your side, through the easy moments and through the difficult ones. You care for them because of how amazing and committed they are to you. You don’t accept anyone talking shit about them. You don’t feel it’s right to talk down to them, or hate on them. You don’t think it’s right to punish or torture them with cruel words or actions. You don’t neglect them. If they’re struggling, you’re there for them. If they need your attention, you answer and listen. If they’re in pain, you lovingly do what’s necessary to help them heal. You don’t compare them to anyone else and act as if they could be like that other person, because that’s just fucking hurtful. You just love them as they are for who they are. You know all that. It makes sense. Good, we’re on the same page.
Now tell me, why the fuck do you not do that with your body? How many of us look at our body and say “I hate my body”? How many of us torture and punish our body? How many of us listen to our body when it cries for help because it’s in pain, and do what’s necessary to help rest and/or heal? And how many of us compare our body to other bodies and feel like shit because some weird ass standard has decided that one look is superior to another, using a random, conditioned and brainwashed set of aesthetics as a point of reference, instead of using health as a point of reference? Do you see where I’m going with this? You know that person you love who is with you through your entire life journey, who is the most committed and loyal person you know, imagine you treated your body with the same reverence and respect you hold for that person? What if you did not take anyone talking shit about your body the way you wouldn’t if someone talked shit about your loved one? What if you didn’t compare your body and focused on its health and well-being the way you focus on your loved one’s well-being? What if you saw your body with the same level of love you see your loved one? We’ve been conditioned for a long time to treat our bodies like a tool or machine.
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The body is mostly viewed in today’s world like something you use, abuse or misuse. We’re not shown to see our bodies like something we live with. It’s a subtle shift in perception and a good exercise to make you realize everything you’ve been doing or not doing to your body and FOR your body. Whenever you feel insecure and embarrassed about your body, imagine you feeling insecure and embarrassed about your loved one, that person you hold dear to your heart. Isn’t it weird? Don’t you feel it’s weird to look at your loved one and feel embarrassed about how they look in front of others? It sounds so insulting! Yet, you don’t find it insulting to behave like that with your body? Whenever you ignore your body when it’s hurting, imagine you ignoring your loved one when they’re hurting. It’s heartbreaking! It feels cruel! That’s what you need to be doing! This is the relationship you need to have with your body! You need to stop viewing it like a disposable machine you use and abuse, and more like a best friend you live with. Your body is the most loyal friend you’ll ever have. It carries you through literally EVERYTHING! It’s been through it all with you! And it never complains! YOU complain! It just sends you signals because it’s loyal to you. It wants to make sure you live your best life, because that’s what you’re meant to be doing on this planet. You’re meant to experience life in the greatest possible way and in a way that is meant for you authentically. Nothing in this life could be possible if you didn’t have a body. It’s like the most obvious statement I could ever make, but sometimes something is so obvious we totally ignore it and take it for granted. I learned about an exercise therapists do in which you’re made to write a letter to it, covering everything it did for you, everything it went through with you, from the good times to the struggles. If your body image is something that often comes back in your mind, I encourage you to try that exercise, or at the very least, do it mentally. You might end up in tears and have a totally new relationship with it. That’s what I did, and continue to do on a daily basis. In my years of training, I’ve experienced more than one injury, and I’m stubborn so I want to push through the pain, because I’m committed and disciplined. It’s my spirit and focused will-power that gets me through anything, which, looking at it from an outside perspective, is a noble attitude, but that same attitude sometimes went overboard and led to injuries. Nothing permanent, thankfully, but unforgettable, like deadlift injuries, for example, and being unable to walk for a week because my stubborn self insisted on pushing through the pain for a few extra reps. Ignoring pain was ignoring my best friend telling me “please watch out. I care about you.” Again, thanks to enough maturity, I never took it so far as to ruin my life, but the lessons are still there. I also lost a lot of weight in my younger days, so I’ve experienced a range of things with my body, from body shaming to embarrassment to pain and injuries. Then I came to realize my body is my friend and my responsibility. Anything I do in life involves my body, which means everything has to be okay for my body and respectful of my body for me to accept going through it. It has to place my body’s well-being first, not some ambition that’ll destroy it, not some comment from a hater, not some standard and expectations vomited on social media. It’s nobody’s business to interfere with my relationship with my loyal friend. When I started having that kind of attitude and relationship with my body, everything I did shifted, from the big things to the most subtle. When I feel pain in my body, I now pause and listen to it, because I care about it and it cares about me. Whether you realize this or not, or whether it seems strange to view your body like a person, remember your body is alive. It’s alive with “about 100 trillion cells that make up the human body” (1). And every cell is working 24/7 to keep that body functioning at its best. Your body has a million jobs for each of its parts, but really, it has one job, keeping you going at your best. Your job is your relationship with it. As it keeps you going at your best, you have to honor it for doing that, by treating it like your loved one. The better you treat it, the better it treats you. It’s the golden rule, and it’s a simple equation.
So, when you’re done reading this, I want you to take a moment and reflect on your relationship with your body, and see where care and love can fit. See how you can honor and respect your body, showing gratitude to it every day for everything it carries you through. That gratitude can be expressed verbally, every time you stare in the mirror or feel your body. It can be expressed in the kind of food you put in it, what kind of exercises you do to keep it healthy, from strong muscles and joints to a healthy heart, and it can be expressed in how you keep your mind well, through proper sleep, stress reduction and mindfulness. That shift in perspective, that new relationship, you don’t have to wait to start it. It can start right now. And if you want my help, it’s my pleasure to assist you. You might know by now I offer workouts and coaching that honor your relationship with your body, including workouts for strength, mobility and longevity and cardiovascular health, as well as mindfulness based meditation. Whatever you do, remember your body is your best friend.
Link to my Mindful Muscle Training workouts for strength, mobility, longevity, & wellness, as well as my mindfulness based meditations.
Link to my muscle building program.
