Skinny Legs

My legs are skinny. They are long and thin and force me to buy a jean size that is too tight on my belly to fit them. What do I think about, those long legs or the bulging belly? I’ll let you guess.

I have a dream of creating a book of women, raw and beautiful. Skin showing, bellies bulging, thighs jiggling. Bravery washed over me one day and I showed my wiggly belly in a picture on my website. It actually is a bit bigger now. In 3 months it might be smaller. My weight shifts as I shift in my life. That is part of my story.

Recently there has been a picture taking over social media in its shocking ‘realness.’

The real is a woman’s belly.
She is a model, she has a little squishy belly. Her thighs are thick and quite luscious.
One magazine published this picture.
Women saw it.
It spread and conversations are taking place about what a real woman is. Naturally thin women are real, women with bellies like mine are real. Women who battle their weight and body image are real.

Will this change the way we view ourselves? Yes, for 5 minutes. For 5 minutes we will know that someone was brave enough to publish this picture. For 5 minutes we will believe that our daughters will grow up in a world where they don’t ever have to restrict food or puke it up to feel real. For 5 minutes, we will cheer for the one magazine that is going to change our world. For 5 minutes we will believe that this publication will continue to take these pictures of real, non-photo-shopped, diverse women. For 5 minutes on our high, we will imagine sacred space inside of glamour shots, space that exists for us all to feel beautiful, loved, desired.

In the following 6th minute that belief will fade.

Minute 6 we can forget that gorgeous woman’s belly and go right back to flipping through magazines without bulging bellies and jiggly thighs or we can use our power to support the change we wish to see. I stopped buying the magazines years ago. The year I gave up dieting and abusing my body, I took my money out of the hands of those who want to tell me what to believe. I started buying kale, reading blogs that real women write and diving into the practice of honoring my legs with the gusto I place on the discomfort of my belly.

Watching with sadness as women’s (and small children’s) bodies stretch with the obesity that has taken over our country is part of why we must find our power in that 6th minute. If we believe we are beautiful and honored our temples, our money would not feed into fast food or glamour magazines. Our money would tell a new story.

A story of women changing the world.
A story of women so in love with themselves and their light.
A story of no longer feeding the system that creates the mania.
A story of women who feel delicious inside of their bodies, wiggly-jiggly parts, muscular legs, lean torsos. All.

I’m going to love my body and rub my belly and change the world. Now. In this minute.

Skinny legs and all.

Will you join me?