I Heart My Body - Health is More Important Than Hotness!

If you have hung- out over at we heart life lately you will know that the 'I heart my body campaign' is well and truly happening.  It is such a fantastic initiative harnessing the power of positivity and encouraging woman to love their bodies. The boy has already had his say on the guy’s perspective of womens body image and even my little sis bravely shared her experiences with teenage body image.
I thought it was time to get my act together ( great idea given todays the last day and its already 9pm?). I have written and re-written this post a thousand times because, when I think about it, for the most, I really do not heart my body. It is really hard to love something that can be the centre of frustration. I hate that my lungs make me fight for every breath, I really wish my pancreas would just get its stuff together and work every so often and It is especially hard to feel beautiful on the days I have more cords than the average appliance.  I hate my barreled rib-cage, curved spine and clubbed fingers, I hate the scars along my veins that make me look like a heroin addict and I hate that some days I look a very unsexy shade of grey. In a very literal sense, I have difficulty hearting my body – a body that often doesn’t do the things I want it to. 

A looming wedding puts the pressure on even the most body-confident of woman. Most of us haven't experienced that kind of pressure since high-school plain-clothes day. If getting naked in front of the stern-faced lady at the dress shop does not give you the jitters, then there is the pressure to look 'perfect' in the chosen gown - the tan, the nails, the Miranda Kerr body right down to the painstakingly plucked eyebrows. For me it is more though. Marriage is a commitment. A statement of love and togetherness. A hope for the future, a promise to be together forever.

This makes me think loving my body isn’t so much how it looks or its shortcomings. Hearting my body is something so much bigger than how it does or does not conform to Cleo’s image of beauty. Hearting my body is respecting it enough, respecting myself enough, to make choices that nourish, nurture and sustain my body and make my body the best it can be. Loving my body is loving myself, loving life and doing what I can to enjoy it, with my man, for as long as possible. I heart the little home (the bean-pod) Cam and I have created, I heart our crazy fur baby, I heart our days at the beach and our food adventures. I heart bike rides, shared caramel milkshakes and little love notes. I heart bedtime snuggles and most of all, I heart my husband to be. The last time I checked you need a body to do and enjoy these things and in my case that body needs a little extra love.

Everyday I make choices that effect how my body functions. I choose to eat a diet of foods that are nutrient dense, I exercise and have just started a program to help me be stronger to enjoy my wedding day. I do 4-6 hours of treatments a day, take 30-50 pills, jab myself 3-8 times and am the sanitizer queen. None of them are particularly fun or easy but I heart life and that means I have be strong enough to heart my body and give it what it needs. My body will never be that of an athlete or a super model. My lungs will most likely always suck and my scars aren’t going anywhere fast. However, for all its flaws, it is MY body and it has given me so much. I heart it for enduring the harsh chemicals (drugs) that are pumped into it; I heart my lungs for not giving up. I heart it for helping me meet my prince c

harming and the many adventures it has allowed me to experience with him. Above all though, I heart it for keeping me here to live life and be a beautiful bride! Hearting your body is not about a constructed perception of a beautiful body. Hearting your body is about life – health is far more important than hotness! 

Love Love Love 

J x