Written by Kyrsten
Insecurities are a real thing. Obviously you know that, that’s why we’re here!
But the funny thing about them is that even though we might overcome one, another one seems to pop up in its place right away. At least, that’s how it seems to happen for me.
If I’m being completely honest, I feel like my insecurities about my body change on a daily or weekly basis.
I am a dancer and have been my entire life, but I am far from having a typical “dancer’s body” because my thighs touch, I’m way taller than the average dancer, my arms are nowhere near toned, and my stomach is not flat in the least. Dance costumes rarely fit me as nicely as all my other dance friends and since coming to college to study dance, the costume shop has had to custom make a large majority of my costumes because the ones from stock that everyone else wears don’t fit me…
Over the past few months, I have been working on my inner dialogue or what I like to call my “positive self talk.” I realized that my perspective on myself and my body had gotten pretty negative. I don’t really know how long this had been going on, but I knew that something needed to change. I started making a conscious effort to think positive things to myself. Things like Girl, you got this. Which then turned into You are beautiful and You are powerful.
I’ve noticed a big difference in how I look at my body when I am consciously thinking positive things about myself.
As I said before, I feel like my insecurities change from day to day. Some days I feel awesome about my hair, and others I feel like my hair looks like I stuck my finger in an electrical socket. I often have a hard time finding things to love about my legs and stomach- but, the other day I actually thought to myself as I was changing “wow, your legs are looking really strong!”
That has NEVER been a thought I’ve had about my stretch marked, cellulite ridden legs before.
We gotta celebrate the victories, am I right?
This process of loving my body is not something that changes overnight or even over the course of a few months. But, I take heart in the small steps. The feeling of loving how my legs look might not make me love my stomach, but it helps me realize that one day, I can love my stomach. One day, I can love my skin despite having acne or scarring. One day, I might find something else to love about the way I look. But it’s okay that today, I just love my legs.
I gotta say, it has taken me all four years of college to realize that even though I don’t have a body that someone would call a “dancer’s body,” I actually do have a dancer’s body-
because I have a body, and I am a dancer.
And my body is strong.
And my body changes so much that making judgements based on what it looks like one day or how I felt last week is pointless because not only will I probably look and feel different tomorrow, but my potential to get stronger and learn a new skill is endless.
Our bodies are amazing and powerful and if we can love them, then we will increase our potential for power.
You have an amazing body, because you are amazing and you have a body.
-Kyrsten
