Love Your Imperfect Body
I just finished Chapter 2 of my book club's selection of A Book That Loves You: An Adventure in Self-Compassion. It's such a fun book because it’s filled with great advice and fun activities that you can pull out of the book and use for creative projects.
The chapter topic is Love Your Imperfect Body, and it was such a timely subject for me to explore. I had surgery a few weeks ago to have my ovaries removed. (I had my uterus removed many years ago because of some medical issues). I had a large and painful cyst on my right ovary that we had been watching for quite some time, and it needed to come out. There was some moderate concern that it could be cancerous, so I’m really happy to say that everything was benign and there’s no cancer. Hooray! I’m healing well and feeling pretty good overall. I’m still a bit sore around my incisions, and my tummy is still somewhat swollen. So I’ve taken to wearing dresses and have been enjoying a new, more flowy style of dressing!
If you’ve been following me for a while, you will remember that I suffered from a severe ankle problem for a few years and had surgery to repair that in December of 2022. I’ve also had a few other minor health issues pop up over the past few years. It's nothing terrible, but as it all adds up, sometimes you get feeling a bit depressed about the body stuff. I knew this would be a good chapter for me to read.
Favorite bits:
Like one of the authors, I have a mother who was always dieting throughout my whole life. My husband has had the same experience. We have both noticed that our parents’ generation was bombarded with the dieting culture starting in the 1970s (probably sooner). As long as I’ve been alive, society has obsessed over being thin. From grapefruit and cottage cheese diets of the 70s, the low-fat craze of the '90s, to the current focus on Ozempic and weight-loss miracle drugs or Botox and plastic surgery, the message always centers around the idea that we are not thin enough and, thus, not good enough.
I love the message that the authors promote in this chapter that “we believe that every body is amazing, even if we don’t always wake up feeling that way about ourselves, it is the message we strive to embrace, choose to share, and try to model. It’s a complicated relationship, but our bodies show up for us every single day of our lives, and that’s worth appreciating.”
“To love your body more, it’s good to think about all the things your body is able to do.”
I also enjoyed the sections on how to rest and regain your calm after burnout and how being in nature gives you a fresh perspective. The article about drinking tea was also interesting. I don’t drink caffeinated tea (I don’t like caffeinated soda either), but I do like herbal teas. My favorite warm drink is Numi Rooibos Chai. I love putting in a beautiful mug like this one from Anthropologie.
Don’t you just love all the pretty pages? I have found so much inspiration already in just the first couple of chapters!
Want to join in?
Purchase A Book That Loves You: An Adventure in Self Compassion. This is not a book you can borrow from the library because you tear out some pages to make creative and inspirational projects. It doesn’t work on Kindle either for that same reason.
Join the online book club and/or follow along here on the blog. You can even subscribe to receive blog posts via email.
Take your time with this book. I’m going to work on this book during March and April. No rush here! I’ll be posting about my activities and learning from each chapter.
Do something (or many things) that you learned from the book. The best way to learn is by doing!
Share the ideas you learn about with others. Tell your family about what you are reading, post in the book club, or post some thoughts
If you have any thoughts you would like to share about the book, feel free to post in the online book club. Or you may enjoy sharing a review on Amazon or Goodreads.
I hope you enjoy the book!
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