But I still wish I could lose weight.

But I still wish I could lose weight.

You already know that you’re beautiful, amazing, powerful, and worthy of love and respect—regardless of your weight.

You already know this. It’s what you tell your daughters and nieces. It’s what you tell yourself. It’s what you post on Instagram.

You already know that your value as a human being has nothing to do with your clothing size.

You already know that happiness is an inside job. Feeling happy is all about the words you say to yourself, the thoughts inside your head, not the number on the scale.

You already know this is true.

And yet… even so… sometimes… okay, maybe a lot of the time… secretly...

You still wish you could lose weight.

And then maybe you feel like a hypocrite. Here you are, supposedly so wise and evolved, this badass feminist, and yet... If you could wave a magic wand and instantly make yourself thinner, skinnier, more toned, more svelte... you would.

And then you wonder, “What is wrong with meee?”

Nothing is wrong with you. It makes total sense that you’re occasionally pummeled with “I wish I could be skinnier” thoughts -because you’ve received millions of messages over the course of your lifetime telling you, “Get skinnier and then you’ll be desirable, accepted, appreciated, loved.”

From TV commercials, billboards, radio ads, websites, blogs, magazines, perhaps even from friends and family, for decades, you’ve been subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) told: “be thin and then your life will be greeeat.” When you’re told something one million times, even if it’s not actually true, you start to believe it.

The next time you notice yourself wishing you could be “thinner” or “have a perfect body”… stop yourself, just like putting your foot on the brakes, just like deleting a text message and then typing a new one. Type a new thought in your mind. Wish for something else in your life.

Wish for courage. Wish for strength. Wish for world peace. Wish for equal pay or, at the very least, for your kids to stop complaining about what’s for dinner tonight. Don’t waste your energy wishing for something like “smaller thighs” or “less cellulite.” That type of wish doesn’t support you—or any other woman in the world.  

Make a new wish. Wish for a world where women love and appreciate their bodies, where women don’t feel anxious about food, where billions of dollars get donated to charities instead of funneled into diet programs. Make that wish.

If enough of us wish it, eventually, it will come true.

PS. Listen to this to remind yourself that you are here, exactly where you're supposed to be in the body that you have.  

xoxo,