It’s time to get naked, my friend. Butt naked.
by Keri Emme
photo by Harry Cunningham for Unsplash
“As I have gotten to know my naked body, the idea of it changing has become infinitely less scary.”
The only constant in life is change.
This idea is attributed to Greek Philosopher Heraclitus, but I was first introduced to the concept through my mom’s love of 90s country music.
(If you didn’t get that Tracey Lawerence reference, congratulations! You weren’t raised in the south! YouTube “Time Marches On” and thank me later).
I know that change can be hard to accept, but it’s pretty easy to understand that even though we might not like change, change is inevitable.
Except when it comes to our bodies. Those have to stay the same forever, right?
Hopefully you chuckled when you read that sentence because obviously our bodies change over time, we all know that… but do we really know that?
You see, society has taught us that as women, we lose value as we age. As a result we spend our lives desperately trying to prevent aging. Another way to say that: we try to prevent our bodies from changing.
It’s high time that we ditch this pointless effort and fight back. It’s time to fight for our right to age.
I believe that the older a woman gets the more magic she collects. With age women become wiser, more powerful, and kinder. What if we used those attributes to lift ourselves up? What if we embraced our bodies through all its shapes and sizes, instead of chasing an ideal that we didn’t even create?
You might be reading this thinking “sure, I get it, but like… how?”
It’s time to get naked, my friend. Butt naked. In front of a mirror naked.
aloweskincare.com
It’s tough to have compassion for something you consistently avoid. So what do you say? Are you ready to take a step out of your comfort zone and get to know your ever changing body?
If the idea of exploring your naked body in front of the mirror makes your skin crawl, you are not alone. When I present this idea to people IRL, the most common reaction is disgust. I get it, I used to be scared of my naked body too.
The first time I committed to exploring my naked body, I went all in. I decided I was going to do a meditation sitting in front of a mirror. Naked sitting. With my eyes open. To say I was apprehensive about what was to come is an understatement, but I had a drive to be kinder to myself and make a change, so I powered forward.
I braced myself for the onslaught of mean, critical comments that I knew would inevitably pop into my brain. I reminded myself that even though this is hard, even though this might hurt, I am safe and I love myself no matter what.
I got undressed and sat down. I looked at my belly and how it rests on my thighs when I sit. My first thought was “My belly isn’t as lumpy as I expected.”
As I was sitting there staring at my naked body, I started to wonder “Am I posing?” Sometimes we pose without realizing, maybe I was sitting extra straight in order to elongate my body. Maybe that’s why my belly didn’t look ”as bad” as I’d expected. I came prepared to be disgusted by my body, and that simply wasn’t happening.
So I started moving. I slouched as low as I could. I leaned to the side, then to the other side. I took a good hard look at my body from every angle I could imagine.
No matter how I looked at my body, the insults I had planned for didn’t arrive. Looking at my naked body seemed to allay the fears I had about my appearance; the fears that my avoidance had fostered.
Our imaginations are always scarier than reality, and an unchecked imagination is powerful.
That sitting meditation was a liberating moment because I realized no matter what my body looked like, I still loved myself. Since that day I often brush my teeth naked and do little dances in front of the mirror. I watch my boobs jiggle and clap together. I make my belly button talk. I play with my body.
As I have gotten to know my naked body, the idea of it changing has become infinitely less scary. I have more gratitude for what my body does for me on a daily basis. Parts of me might get larger, or saggier, or more wrinkly, but that all seems so insignificant now.
As we move through life, we will grow and change internally, it only makes sense that our bodies will reflect those changes externally.
So I have a few questions for you:
Are you ready to take up the fight with me?
Are you ready to embrace your body through all its changes?
Are you ready to tell the patriarchy, the diet industry, & the toxic fitness industry to collectively get fucked?
If you are, it sounds like you are ready to get naked.
We have the power to change the narrative. The revolution starts from within.
Read more:
Anti-Aging is BS. Try this approach instead.