Happy to be Me

just more chin and forehead to love...on the other hand, I think my button nose, or whatever it is, is really funny (in a good way) and I know it's not in vogue, but I love my freckles!

I hate it when celebrities are being interviewed by magazines and are asked, "What part of your body do you HATE?" or some question like that. On the one hand, this question reveals that *gasp* celebrities are human and despite having perfect bodies, they still feel insecure--so the part of your body you're worried about is probably less noticeable than you think it is. On the other hand, it establishes a norm--even if you are super healthy, in really good shape, etc., you should always be ashamed or vexed by some part of your body.

I wonder why we all can't get along with our body parts. Why can't we have a norm of being happy in the body that we're in? Before I lost some weight, I felt like there was no part of my body that I could really be proud of. Having lost some, I think all of it looks better. I want to lose weight so it looks better still--but I'm not losing sleep over some part of my body. My body is a machine, and I'm working to get it into more efficient working order. There is so much more to life than worrying about my butt having cellulite on it or whatever.

But maybe that's because up to now, the biggest imperfection has been evenly spread around--and it's been totally changeable. I can lose weight and be much happier with how I look--it's not something I could never change except through radical, gratuitous, plastic surgery.

Now that I've lost some weight though, especially around my face, I found myself freaking out over my natural face shape--long and narrow. My face looks to me like a super-elongated oval and it's freaking me out. I had hoped that once I lost weight, I would stop cringing at photos of myself, but now I've turned into the very thing I despise!!--someone who freaks out about things they can't change rather than embracing themselves for who they are.

So, this post represents my last freak-out about what I perceive to be my freakishly-shaped face. Looking online for hairdos and stuff to minimize it's long appearance, I was informed that my face shape is pretty versatile, and that a lot of models have this face shape. I was also thinking about an older woman we visited last night. She has had MS since she was 24, and requires a wheelchair to get around. When we visited last night, she slowly lifted herself out of the chair and lowered herself to the couch. I offered to help--but she said, "I've been doing this for 43 years and I can just keep doing it!" We talked for a minute about how your body can adapt. She has the grace to be appreciative of what her body can do, not an obsession over it's imperfections. Her attitude was that you take what life gives you and you just keep going. And she's much the better for it.

So, to all the celebrities out there, and to me too, let this be a reminder that we'd rather have too-skinny legs than no legs, a long round face than no face, and most of all, the opportunity to impact the things that have much more meaning in life than any of our petty external insecurities.