This is a think-piece.  I hope that it will inspire you to think about its subject matter. Please approach it with an open mind.

Hello World!  I’m going to take a moment to discuss positivity, beauty, and authenticity as they pertain to our bodies.

Body positivity is a movement that challenges the ways we view and present the human body.  The movement seeks to address some of our “mirror anxiety”.  Hopefully, we can get to a point where we are all happy with what we see looking back at us.

This piece is built around a series of affirmations that I use to express body positivity.  So, let’s talk about it.

Beauty is not skin deep.  My body is more than my external appearance.

Have you ever considered that your personality is a part of your body?  I heard this one time, and now it dominates my thoughts.  I can be kind, funny, intelligent, etc.  All this comes from my brain.  Remove my brain, and all I’d be is a corpse.

If there are some things on the outside that I can't change, I can work to become a more beautiful person on the inside.

Perhaps you feel that “having a great personality” is trite, that it doesn’t help.  I do find it quite comforting, however.  Most of us will stop being conventionally beautiful on the outside one day.  We will get older, softer, less able to do for ourselves.  Some of us are already there.  Some were born there, and we have little control over this. 

Take a disabled person, for example.  I’ll even volunteer myself as an example.  I can drug myself.  I can learn compensatory practices.  I can work extremely hard.  At the end of the day, my brain will always be an ADHD brain.  Even though the standard is neurotypical, my best me is not neurotypical.  My best me is not even my best approximation of neurotypical.  My best me is my brain in an environment where my strengths shine and my weaknesses don’t matter.

The problem is not us.  The problem is the standard.

So, let’s reorient those standards.  Personality is a little more fluid, more malleable, and yet more durable to the weathering of time.  Body positivity is acknowledging that inner beauty is also a part of our bodies.  Having a great personality is a genuine compliment.

And yet, what if I’m happy with how I look on the inside and want to feel the same way about my external appearance?  Is that okay?

It is okay for me to work on myself, inside and out.  I don’t have to be complacent.

Toxic positivity is “putting a positive spin on all experiences, even tragic ones.”  When positivity becomes divorced from reality, it becomes toxic. 

Body positivity can become toxic when it stifles opportunities for growth and health.  Body positivity is not “I don’t ever have to do anything because I love myself.” It is “I love myself so I will do what I can to be healthy, not to look a certain way.” 

Body positivity is the death of fatphobia.  It is divorcing the words “fat” from “unhealthy” and “thin” from “healthy”.  If someone is fat, it is okay for them to want to work out and eat healthily.  Body positivity is them doing those things because they want to be healthy.  It is not because these things will cause them to gain or lose weight. 

Some people are healthiest when fat while others are healthiest while thin.  Don’t work out and eat healthy to look a certain way.  Do it to feel a certain way.  Set goals that are less about how you look and more about how you feel. 

Also, diets don’t work.  Diets don’t work.  Diets don’t work.

Instead of dieting, let’s practice mindful eating.  Our bodies are remarkably stable and they know where we need to be healthy.  If you have been fat your entire life, then fat is probably healthy for you, and vice versa for thin people. 

Balance and authenticity are positive and healthy when it comes to our bodies.

To be our best selves, we shouldn’t be complacent.  We should strive to reach our potential.  And yet, authenticity involves recognizing our limitations and not pushing beyond those limits. 

Authenticity is being “true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character.” Authenticity is so important to me that I made it one of the core values of One Thousand Words.  And yet, it gets misinterpreted sometimes.

Plastic surgery.  Colored contacts.  Makeup.  Do you consider these words to be more authentic or inauthentic?  Frequently, these things are considered inauthentic.  

I disagree.  Remember, our personalities are a part of our bodies.  These supposedly “inauthentic” things are a projection of our personalities.  They are self-expression, one of the greatest forms of authenticity. 

Do what you have to do to feel confident in yourself.  You aren’t lying to anyone if you need to change your appearance to represent your most authentic self.  If you have big booty energy, get the big booty surgery.  If you want six-pack abs, go buy them and let the haters cry. 

Body positivity can be summarized with a few words: Be your best and most authentic you.

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