Love Your Body Challenge – Day 6 22

Posted In Body Image

(Psssst! If you’re “late” to the challenge and just getting started, that’s OK too! Just go at your own pace! Start with this blog post and scroll to the bottom, and make sure you have what you need to complete the challenge and fill out the 10 questions you need to fill out before you get started. Then you can take it day by day at your own pace!)

Recap

Yesterday was Day 5 of the Love Your Body Challenge and it seemed to be a tough one for most people. Yesterday was the first day that we really focused on anything about our physical appearance and I could tell that it wasn’t easy for many of you. This makes sense considering that a lot of you are doing this challenge because of how you feel about your physical appearance, but it was still tough to read comments like,

“I’m really struggling to find something that I like about my outside appearance.”

“I know I have a kind heart, but I’m not sure what my most beautiful outer feature is. I’m not sure I have one.”

Heartbreaking.

BUT, that is what this challenge is about, and hopefully this will improve over the next 22 days. Annnnd hopefully you’re already noticing things like: how much more positive your thoughts are, how you have an increased desire to be kinder to others, and how you find yourself in an overall better mood.

If I were you, I would record these positive thoughts and feelings in something like a Positivity Journal. Positivity Journals are simply ways to collect positive information that makes you happy. You can write down positive compliments from others, good thoughts you had about yourself that day, a kind act that you performed for someone else that made you feel good, or something nice that someone did for you… whatever makes you smile! There are no rules or right ways to keep one other than this: it should make you happy when you read it. Easy enough, right?

So back to yesterday — one thing that I thought was so cool was how many of you who really have a deep desire to positively affect the lives of those around you. This desire seems to be sorely lacking in so many, and the fact that so many of you want to do this made me smile!

Yesterday I discussed how I feel most beautiful when my boyfriend can’t take his eyes off of me. I felt beautiful on my own accord at other times in my life, but this man takes it to a whole new level. And the nice part is that it’s not just when I’m dressed up. It’s after a workout, first thing in the morning when my eyes are barely open, or after a 13 hour car ride to Nebraska. (OK, so he also told me that I stunk and needed a shower after that car ride — but he still told me I was beautiful!)

Yesterday I also discussed how my eyes are my most beautiful outward feature, but I still struggle to love them as much when they’re natural as when they’re “made up.” We are ALL a work in progress, remember?

As for my most beautiful inward feature, I have to say it’s my desire to help others. I can’t even explain how moved I am by each and every one of your all’s stories. I wish I could respond to them all, but considering I’m running on almost no sleep right now, I have to be kind to myself and prioritize that. Please know, however, that I am reading each and every comment and message you send. So please… keep commenting!

As for today’s reason to love your body… let’s go!

Reason #6 To Love Your Body

6. Because it’s served you well.

This reason isn’t a deeply emotional one for me, but more of a pretty simple fact. One that I recognized and just thought,

“Huh. Well I guess you’re right. It has served me pretty darn well over the years.”

We take our bodies for granted all the time. We don’t give our body credit for all of the amazing things that it can do, from lift heavy things, to create human life, to carry our ungrateful a$$es around all day.

Seriously. For most of us, if we think back to how our bodies have served us throughout our lifetime, I think the general consensus would be that it’s been pretty good. For the most part, our bodies allow us to walk, skip, run, jump, play sports, learn math, play the flute, fall in love, do a plank, catch a ball, go for a swim, hike a mountain, nurse our babies, watch a sunset, surf in the ocean, and much, much more.

Of course there’s no doubt that some of you have struggled with some of those things, and that’s hard. But spending time focusing on what your body can’t do will just make you miserable and engage in self-loathing. So focus on what it can do. Focus on all of the ways that your body has served you, and all of the things it allows you to do at the drop of a hat, simply because you want to.

Despite battling back issues for the last 2 years, my body does pretty much whatever I ask of it.

Mantra: “I love my body. It may not be 100% perfect, but it’s served me well and it deserves love and compassion.”

Repeat this (to yourself or out loud) 10 times right now, 10 times during your action step, and 10 times before bed.

Action Step: Take 5 minutes and write down a list of all of the things that you love that your body allows you to do . They can be as small as baking a cake, as large as climbing a mountain, and everywhere in between. Write them down, and for each one, consider how you would feel if you couldn’t do that thing. Sit with that feeling for about 5 seconds, and then focus on the fact that you can. Allow yourself to be consumed with gratitude.

Here’s my list:

Do a Turkish Getup
Play with my nephew
Demo exercises and coach my clients
Hike a small mountain
Put this challenge together
Speak and coach at Train Like A Girl 2
Help care for my Gama who had a stroke
Do 9 neutral grip pull-ups
Have deep empathy for each of your stories
Have gratitude for each of your stories
Do a pretty rockin’ split leap
Dance
Play on the rings at Venice Beach
Go for a walk in the sunshine
Meditate

Well everyone, that’s it for today. I hope you have a fantastic rest of the weekend, and I hope you check back Monday for more.

Checklist:

1. Make sure you’ve signed up for my newsletter so you can get links to the new challenge every morning!
2. Make sure you’ve filled out the 10 questions at the bottom of this page (DO THIS BEFORE DAY 1) so you have your “starting point.”
3. Say your mantra 10 times immediately, during your action step, and before bed.
4. Complete your action step.
5. Check in with your accountability partner if you have one.
6. Check back tomorrow for more.

OH! 3 more things —

1. PLEASE post about what you’re doing on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtags #LoveYourBodyChallenge or #LYBC. This will allow you to connect with others doing the challenge, offer support and encouragement, and get ideas for your mantras and action steps.

2. PLEASE comment below and let us know what your mantra and your action steps are each day. Again, this helps build support and community as well as offers ideas to those who might need them.

3. If you’re so inclined, feel free to send me pictures of your amazingly beautiful selves and I’ll post them in my Facebook album. It’s essentially an album of pictures similar to what my fitness professional friends and I did on Day 1. It’s a picture that you might normally not want to post, but you post it anyway along with a short blurb about your journey. You can see the album here, and you can send pictures and your blurb to: 28DayLoveYourBodyChallenge@gmail.com It’s such a supportive community of women (and men) over there. It’s awesome!

That’s all for now. See you tomorrow!

FIND DAY 5 HERE

FIND DAY 7 HERE