In this episode, we're exploring the struggles many women face in loving and appreciating their bodies as they are. I strongly believes this challenge is largely due to societal pressures and skewed perceptions of beauty, constantly thrown at us through advertising and social media.

Today, I'm sharing my personal journey of overcoming body image issues and giving you actionable advice on changing your own thoughts and feelings to foster a positive relationship with your body.

Takeaways include understanding that all bodies are miraculous and valuable, the importance of gratitude, and the effect of diet and exercise on your mental and physical well-being. I'll also teach you how to better treat your body with respect, acknowledge its strengths, and embrace the inevitable process of aging. This episode will help you in combatting the temptation to waste time and energy hating or criticizing our bodies!

Download my free guide to getting your coaching business up and running in ONE weekend.

Ready to work together? Schedule a call to explore your goals and learn how I can help you.

00:29 The Struggle to Love Our Bodies

01:01 Miracles of the Human Body

03:29 Society's Unrealistic Standards

04:45 Personal Journey to Body Acceptance

06:21 Changing Negative Thoughts

12:03 Practicing Gratitude for Your Body

15:32 Overcoming Physical Limitations

16:20 Changing Thoughts and Feelings

16:47 Transforming Actions: Diet and Exercise

19:41 Challenging Your Body's Potential

22:08 Rest, Recovery, and Gratitude

25:37 Embracing Aging and Acceptance

28:28 Final Thoughts on Body and Soul

Download my free guide to getting your coaching business up and running in ONE weekend.

Ready to work together? Schedule a call to explore your goals and learn how I can help you.

You're listening to episode

57 of burning brightly become

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best friends with your body.

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This is Burning Brightly, a podcast

for Christian moms who are feeling

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called to build a business and

share their light with the world.

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I'm Bonnie Wiscombe, a life coach,

mom, and entrepreneur, and I'm honored

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to be your guide as you face this

business building adventure full of

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highs, lows, and everything in between.

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This is where we help each

other find the courage to shine.

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Hey there friends.

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Welcome back.

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I am excited about today's episode

because we're going to talk about your

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body and how incredible and amazing it

is and why it is so darn hard to love

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it and appreciate it just the way it is.

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We women, especially really, really

struggled to love and appreciate

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our bodies just the way they are.

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And I don't think this is an accident.

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I think this is a purposeful

attack on women by the adversary.

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And so we're gonna talk about this

and how we can combat that and

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really step into the power that comes

with loving and appreciating and

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treating your body with the kind of

love and respect that it deserves.

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So our bodies really are

truly objectively miracles.

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Modern science has absolutely

no idea how some things in our

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bodies work like our brains.

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It's, incredible how they work and

we're still just scratching the surface.

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To understanding why it does and doesn't

do the things that it does that we're

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still trying to figure things out.

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Even these neurologists that

spend decades in school, trying to

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figure out the brain there's still

so much, they don't understand.

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Personally, the more I learn about

my body, the more I realize how.

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Incredibly amazing and miraculous.

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That is because I understand

so very little about it.

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But I really do believe they're beautiful.

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Now it bears mentioning that

some Christian sex out there.

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Believe that our bodies are innately evil

or wicked that somehow they are holding

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us back from our best spiritual potential.

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I personally don't believe that I

believe that they are divinely designed.

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That means designed by God to help

us maximize our time here on earth.

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But we have to have a

good relationship with it.

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You know, I've talked before about

having a relationship with yourself

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and I think having a relationship

with your body is part of that.

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So we're going to talk

about how to do that today.

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Now if our bodies work as intended.

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Let's just talk for a second.

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About some of these miraculous things

that we are able to do because of a body.

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Particularly the one that

functions as intended.

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If our bodies work the way

they're supposed to, they

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make energy from the fuel.

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We give it.

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They grow and mature and develop

the way they're supposed to.

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Even if we give it really crappy

fuel, like Snickers bars and soda.

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Because I did that a lot of my

teenage years and I still grew up to

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be a very healthy adult individual.

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If they work as intended, they can

walk and run and turn cartwheels.

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I want to acknowledge that many of us

do struggle with issues or disabilities

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that make it hard for us to do the things

that we would like to do in our body.

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And I fully acknowledge the pain and

suffering that is involved in that.

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And I think we're all gonna experience a

portion of that as we age and our bodies

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become less able, but if they work the way

they're supposed to, we can make babies,

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make other human beings with our body.

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And we can feed those human beings.

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And we can hug them.

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And we can laugh and cry together and we

can dance and sing and be entertained.

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Laughing is one of my favorite

things to do in the whole wide world.

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And

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the way it makes you feel

inside is just incredible.

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We can eat delicious things and

we can stretch and grow and move

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and compete in races and sports.

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Anyway, it's just an amazing, incredible

creation this body that we have.

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But like I said, it seems like

the world in general is kind of

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out to get us and our bodies.

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It seems like everywhere we look,

someone is telling us that our bodies

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or wrong in some way, and that we need

to change everything about ourselves.

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We are too fat.

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Or we're too thin.

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Or we're too pale.

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So we need a tan or we're too dark.

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We need to bleach her skin.

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Or we're too old and wrinkly, so we

need to look younger or we look too

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young and no one's going to respect us.

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Right?

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Like there's so much thrown at us

about how our looks matter so much.

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And that they are wrong in some way.

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So how in the world are we

supposed to make friends with

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a body that is told everywhere?

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We look that it is not enough, not enough.

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Even the people that society thinks

are the pinnacle of beauty and health.

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So olympic athletes or celebrities.

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They are also criticized probably

even more than us, regular folks

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because they're in the public eye

and told that they are too much or

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too little or too this or too that.

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Well, part of this stems from

the fact that people like

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to be really unkind online.

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So if you need a reminder about how to

deal with that, go back to my episode.

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On haters and trolls.

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I talked about that in episode

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So that can be a good reminder that

sometimes people just need to be mean,

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and we can deal with that in our own ways.

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But as far as the body goes, I

can only share my own experience

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because I've only had one body.

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It's this one.

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And I have come a long way in learning to

love it and become best friends with it.

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So in my youth, as probably many,

many, many women, I had a lot

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of drama around my body a lot.

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I had some real disordered eating.

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I had major hyper-focus on my looks.

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I was also obsessed with

the looks of others.

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And I'm really ashamed to say

that very often I judged people.

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Very harshly on the way that they looked,

because it was so important to me.

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I wasted a lot of time, energy focus.

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That could have been spent

towards something else.

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Hyper-focusing on the looks

of myself and of other people.

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And it affected my

relationships with others.

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I wasn't able to be confident

in a lot of situations because I

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was worried about how I looked.

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Like I said, I started to value or devalue

other people based on their own looks.

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And I hated this about myself.

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I knew it was wrong, but I didn't

really know how to get out of it.

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I finally got to a point in my late teen

years where I was determined to fix it.

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And as a young adult, I

started doing just that.

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Now in my forties, I have to

say I'm still far from perfect.

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I still work on this a lot.

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It's kind of ingrained in me.

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But I can honestly say that

I now love my body so much.

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I am so grateful for every

square inch of it, and I would

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not change anything about it.

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And I really mean that there were many

years where I wanted to say that and for

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it to be true, but it finally is true

that I love it exactly the way it is.

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And that was a hard fought fight.

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So I'm going to give you some of the

things that I went through and learned

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so that hopefully you can get to the same

place in making friends with your body.

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All right.

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So let me tell you first about some of

the thoughts that I needed to change,

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because as we know from the head

heart hands model that I teach you.

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That everything starts with our thoughts.

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So the circumstance of my body.

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Is such right now I'm 44 years old.

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I have some wrinkles.

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I have some gray hair.

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I have a fairly healthy

amount of fat on my body.

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Now I've been working pretty hard on that.

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I have a decent amount of muscle.

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I do have some issues with

my body that are not perfect.

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I have my feet have some issues.

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My back has some issues and I struggle

with some back pain every now and again.

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So.

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It's not like.

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My body is this perfect specimen,

but I have acknowledged over the

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years that how I think about my body

directly controls how I feel about it.

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And then the action that I take, right.

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As in everything we know from

that life coaching model.

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So for example, if I'm

going to think, I look old.

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Then I'm going to feel something

negative because society has told

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me that it's not okay to look old.

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And then I'm going to take action

from that negative emotion.

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Maybe it's going to be.

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Frustration or discussed or.

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Annoyance or any number

of negative emotions?

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I don't want to take action towards

my body from negative emotion.

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I want to take action towards my body

from very positive or motivating emotion.

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So sometimes I will feel like garbage

maybe because I ate too much sugar.

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And I will think, Ooh,

I don't feel so good.

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My body deserves better.

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And then I will feel motivated

to eat better in the future.

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And I will take action

from that motivation.

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Does that make sense?

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And this just like anything in our

business, in our family relationships,

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in anything, if we want to do

better, we have to feel better first.

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We cannot beat ourselves up

into taking better action.

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So this is something I

learned at a very young age.

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When I beat myself up and think.

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You missed your workout.

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There's something wrong with you or you

are terrible in some way, then I feel

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terrible and I take terrible action.

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I don't all of a sudden feel motivated

to get up and exercise the next day,

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because I've beaten myself up about

not exercising the date before.

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Does that make sense?

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So we want to feel better in

order to take better action.

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So how can we change our thoughts

in a way that's going to make us

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feel better and take better actions?

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So here's some of the thoughts and

feelings that I had to change over

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my very long journey of learning

to become friends with my body.

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I had to work on the thought that

some bodies were better than others.

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And admittedly, this is still

something I struggle with innately.

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I think we all think

that skinnier is better.

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Fitter is better.

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Maybe.

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Certain Heights are better than others.

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Certain body shapes

are better than others.

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And this is of course, ingrained into us

due to society and all of the pictures

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and videos and things that we're bombarded

with on social media every single day.

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But I truly believe now that

no body is better than another.

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Why would one body be better than another?

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That's not a thing.

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Just like one human is

not better than another.

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We are all just on our own paths,

doing the best that we can.

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So for example, if someone is obese

and experiencing the effects of

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obesity, which might be limited

movement, maybe an increase in certain

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diseases, or it's a little bit harder.

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For them to serve or show up

for their family in that way.

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That doesn't make their body

less good than someone who

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doesn't struggle with obesity.

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It's just different, really, truly.

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If we can wrap our head around that,

that there really is nobody that

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is better or worse than another,

a lot of these other painful

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damaging thoughts will just kind of.

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Fall away.

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So if this is a thought

that you entertain, which it

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probably is, most of us do.

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I would invite you to take a look at it.

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Why do you think somebodies

are better than others?

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If your body was quote unquote

better in some way more in alignment

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with what you think a perfect body

should look like by the way, there

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is no such thing as a perfect body.

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Just like there's no such

thing as a perfect human.

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Then what would that look like?

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What, what would that

mean for you in your life?

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How would your life be better or easy

if your body was more in alignment

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with what you think is quote unquote.

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Perfect.

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Now, like I said, I'm

still working on this.

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Sometimes I envy the way other

people look, I think, oh, I

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wish I had legs like that.

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Oh, I wish I was that tall.

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Oh, I wish I, blah, blah, blah.

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But instead I have chosen to

really, really focus on how I feel.

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And the difference between how I

look and how I feel is astronomical.

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Now, I'm not saying

they're not correlated.

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They very much are when I feel good.

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I very often look good because I'm

doing the things to treat my body in

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a way that makes it perform better.

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And that often means that I look

stronger or healthier, whatever.

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But.

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That's probably the biggest pivot

that I've seen in my life from

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being a youth with a lot of body.

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Image issues.

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And being an adult who does

not struggle with those issues

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anymore, for the most part.

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That is the major shift is I was

focusing on how I looked for the majority

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of the first 25 years of my life.

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And now I focus on how I feel.

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So, let me give you an example.

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I'm training for a race right now.

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So that means some pretty intense days

at the gym I'm in there six days a

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week, sometimes multiple times a day.

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And most of the time I feel really good.

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Today.

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I woke up feeling a

little under the weather.

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One of my kids has been sick and I think

she's trying to pass her sickness onto me.

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And so my motivation was

entirely based on how I feel.

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Do I go to the gym or not?

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I chose not to, because I knew it

was going to probably wear me down

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a little bit more in the past.

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I would have only made those

decisions based on how I looked.

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Did I like the way I looked into swimsuit

recently are my pants fitting right?

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Is, is staying home from the gym

today, going to affect the way I look.

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And now I only.

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Based those decisions on how

it's going to make me feel.

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I think that is a really, really

pivotal change in thought process.

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And if you feel like you need to do

the same, I encourage you to try it.

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Another thought and feeling that I

decided to change over the years,

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little by little was I started

showing regular ratitude for my body.

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And most of the time,

this is just in my head.

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Sometimes I write it down.

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If I need to.

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But when my body was in a position that

maybe a past me would have thought was

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not ideal, maybe had, it was carrying

some extra weight from a pregnancy or

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was very pregnant and couldn't do much,

or was very sick and couldn't do much.

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I would start listing the things that

I was still very, very grateful for.

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So for example, if I had 35 pounds on me

after having a baby, I would think I am so

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grateful for a body that can have babies.

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I have so many friends that

struggle with infertility.

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This is a huge blessing

and I'm so grateful for it.

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When I couldn't run more

than, you know, a block.

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I really love to run.

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And so after every pregnancy is

always a bit of a challenge to

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get back into the running game.

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When I couldn't run very far, I would

think my body for running it all

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running is very strenuous on your body.

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Sometimes.

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And so when I could run a block, I would

say, oh my gosh, I'm so grateful that I

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could get out here and enjoy nature and

the outdoors and the fresh air and move

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my body because it makes me feel so good.

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So I would run for two or three

songs on my playlist, and then

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I would stop and walk and be so

grateful for what I could do.

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And then after I had a traumatic birth,

And I started to wet my pants, which

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happens sometimes with the traumatic

birth and damage to your pelvic floor.

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I tried to thank it for delivering my

baby at all, for making sure that I had

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a healthy baby through a scary birth that

could have ended a million different ways.

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So this was not always easy.

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It still isn't always easy.

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It is very often second nature

to just fall into that negative.

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Thought spiral to think over and over.

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What's wrong with us.

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Oh, I wish I could get

rid of these wrinkles.

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Oh, I wish I could get rid of this.

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PAJ oh, I wish I were stronger.

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I wish I were.

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Blah, blah, blah, whatever

keeps coming up for you.

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It's so easy to fall into that.

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So it requires active.

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Paying attention to both your

thoughts and your feelings about

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your body to focus on that gratitude.

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What can you be grateful

for your body today?

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What can you think at four today?

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Did it get you out of bed?

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Yay.

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Have you had days where it

didn't get you out of bed?

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Probably most of us have.

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Were you able to eat food without

severe discomfort and illness?

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Probably.

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Have you had days where you

haven't been able to do that?

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Yeah, probably.

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So this reminds me of

the gap and the gain.

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One of my favorite self

help books of all times.

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If you still haven't read it,

please put on your list immediately.

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It's a quick read or a quick listen.

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But what we're doing here,

when we focus on gratitude is

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we're focusing on the gain.

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What do we have that we may

not be paying attention to?

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That is so much better than it could be.

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We're not focusing on the gap

where we still want to go.

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Well, I still want to lose weight.

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I still want to get stronger,

so want to be healthier.

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So want to be more able.

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Great.

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It's always good to have goals

and dreams, but let's focus

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on how much we already have.

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For most of us, we can stand

up and walk and hug our loved

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ones and participate at work.

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Or at school, we can do so many

things with this incredible

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body that we've been given.

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We eat food and process it, and it

turns into energy so we can move around.

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So amazing.

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So that's my challenge for you is

what thoughts and feelings can you

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change to get you more in alignment

with where you want to go with

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becoming best friends with your body?

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The last thought that I

changed or challenged.

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Over these past 20 odd years is

that I reminded myself that my body

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can do and be anything I needed to.

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So that was really powerful.

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Sometimes we like to feel stuck.

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We like to think, well, I could

never vis because my body can't.

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We just watched the Olympics, some of the

most amazing athletic stories come from

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someone who overcame some major hardships.

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The Paralympics are coming up soon

and that's incredible to watch these

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people overcome major disabilities and

be able to perform as elite athletes

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because they thought they could because

they chose to see what they could do.

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So what could your body be capable of?

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If you wanted to get it there, could

it be capable of better eating?

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Could it be capable of better sleep?

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Have more abilities.

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Could you be capable of running a race?

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Or.

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Doing a sport you've never tried before.

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Could you be capable of walking around

the block if you haven't gotten out

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in a while, what could you be capable

of and how would that make you think

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and feel towards your body as opposed

to what it's been like in the past?

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All right.

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So those are the thoughts

and feelings that I changed.

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Now let's talk about the actions

that I changed because of course, in.

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Head heart hands model, the head and

the heart are the thoughts and the

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feelings those have to change first.

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And then the actions follow.

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Most people only look at the action.

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So people might look at me and think,

oh, well, . It's easy for her to enjoy

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her body because she likes working

out or she likes eating healthy.

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No, I had to change the thoughts

and feelings first before I

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was able to change the actions.

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All right.

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Now, one of the actions had to do

with my diet and what I was eating.

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Because the fuel we give our

bodies is super duper important.

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So if we're talking about making best

friends with our body, Let's think, for

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example, how we would take care of our own

personal best friend, think of your best

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friend or one close friend that you have.

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And if you were responsible for

taking care of him or her for a

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week, What would you feed him or her?

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What would you.

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Prepare for them.

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What kind of snacks, what kind

of treats, what kind of meals?

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Especially if that person were suffering

in some way, needed extra loving care.

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You would probably make the best meal,

you know, how you would probably get the

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finest ingredients, you would probably

be, make sure that that person is eating.

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The way that it's healthiest for their

body, because you want them to feel.

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Their best and maybe recover from

some illness or surgery or something.

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So what I did over these past 20

years, as I've learned to become

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best friends with my body is I

stopped eating so much for pleasure.

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And what I thought I

quote unquote, deserved.

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And instead what made my body feel good?

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You guys, this was a game changer and I'm

not saying that I never eat for pleasure.

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I absolutely do.

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Do you guys like mint, Milanos?

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There are some of my favorite cookies.

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I've bought multiple packages in

the past week and eaten them all.

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Nope.

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Didn't even share them with my

children and I'm okay with that.

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So, I firmly believe that the

pleasure that comes from eating is a

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wonderful one, but I think it should

represent a very small portion.

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Of.

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Our overall eating.

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If we are predominantly

eating for pleasure.

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98% of the time, our bodies are

not going to be in a good state.

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Why?

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Because our food supply is garbage.

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Have you been to a grocery store lately?

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90% of the stuff in there is packaged

and processed within an inch of its life.

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And if you just go around picking

what sounds good, your body

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is going to suffer big time.

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Okay.

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So this is something I had to

gradually learn little by little.

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I had to really listen to my body.

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When I eat something predominantly for

pleasure, let's say a piece of cake.

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How do I feel?

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How does that show up in my body?

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How does it show up in my life?

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Long-term if I continue to eat like that.

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Versus eating for fuel

and feeling really good.

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And then pleasure just a

small portion of the time.

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And I will tell you something else.

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Now that I start eating more

for fuel and for feeling good

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and pleasure less amount of the time.

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When I do eat for pleasure,

it is so much more enjoyable.

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I am very intentional about what I eat.

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I don't just eat my kids leftover

snacks or finish off there.

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Half-eaten doughnut.

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I decide ahead of time.

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I'm going to have a small bowl of

this amazing ice cream that I just

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spent a lot of money on because it's

one of my favorites and it's been.

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Hiding in the back of the

freezer for a few days.

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Right.

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I'm very intentional

and thoughtful about it.

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And I really enjoyed the experience.

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Instead of just kind of shoving

my mouth full of whatever

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sounds good at in the moment.

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So stop eating so much for

pleasure, more for fuel, but still.

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Making time for that pleasure,

maybe 10, 15% of the time,

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instead of 80% of the time.

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Another thing I started to do action

wise was I started challenging

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my body with races and exercise.

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So one of the most incredible things.

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About your body, is that it?

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Has almost infinite potential.

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When we look at the athletes in

the Olympics, like, can you imagine

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what it would be like to train

and perform at that elite level?

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They have worked for years

to get there, which means.

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The potential your body has for

what it can do is almost unlimited.

446

Definitely untapped.

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If you're not an elite athlete already,

there's so much that we could do.

448

I'm not saying you have to go

try to get in the Olympics.

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If you're in your forties,

that ship has sailed.

450

I've acknowledged that.

451

Side note.

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That is a pretty funny thing

about the Olympics when they're

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like, oh, that person is.

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You know, one of the oldest

people in their sports and

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they're like 29 years old.

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Makes you feel a little bit old.

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I'm not saying we have to become

elite athletes, but ask yourself

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how you could push your body

to see what it is capable of.

459

This for me was huge.

460

It is really hard to hate.

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Or be disgusted at a body

that is fast and strong.

462

Because it makes you feel so capable.

463

So one of the things that I always missed

after having a baby was feeling strong.

464

Some of my babies, I was able to lift

weights and run and exercise really

465

intensely throughout the pregnancy.

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And some I was not.

467

And the ones when I was not, I would have

my baby and I would just be sitting around

468

the couch thinking I feel like a slug.

469

Like I can't lift things.

470

I can't move very well.

471

My back would hurt.

472

I really, really suffered when I didn't

have more muscle tone and I had extra fat.

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So when I started challenging my

body, it became this really fun.

474

Experiment to see.

475

How far I could push it.

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So when I started lifting weights after

my last baby, I remember thinking.

477

Okay.

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Just getting through the workout and not

being super sore the next day is my goal.

479

And then when I got to that,

I thought, well, maybe I could

480

go a little bit stronger.

481

Maybe I could try a longer workout.

482

Maybe I could try lifting

and then running maybe.

483

And , I just progressed from

there little by little by little.

484

I got better and faster and stronger.

485

And it is an incredible experiment

to see what your body is capable.

486

I love it so much.

487

And maybe.

488

Going to the gym is not your thing, but

maybe you really miss playing basketball

489

that you did that in high school.

490

And you would do anything to

feel fit enough, to throw a

491

ball around with your teenagers.

492

Again, do it start small,

start walking around the.

493

Neighborhood.

494

And then.

495

Dart shooting a few

hoops in your driveway.

496

And then maybe a couple of.

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One-on-one games with a kid.

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That's going to take

it easy on you, right?

499

Little by little, see if you

could push your body and challenge

500

it to do something greater.

501

This is closely related to my next

change in my actions that I did.

502

And that was paying attention to the

rest and recovery that my body needed.

503

I kind of have type a

perfectionist tendencies.

504

It's not always a good thing.

505

And very often I would push

myself through what needed to

506

be a rest or a recovery day.

507

For example, today needed to

be a rest and recovery day.

508

My past self would probably

not have always allowed that.

509

So I'm so grateful.

510

For understanding that this is

a time and space when I need to

511

make room for rest and recovery.

512

Frankly, I would argue all times of

life are those times when you need

513

to make space for rest and recovery.

514

But especially as we age, we

acknowledge this more and more

515

that our body needs downtime.

516

We already know that our muscles

repair and recover when they're

517

resting, just like our brain makes

connections when it's sleeping.

518

So if we don't allow that rest and

recovery for our body, we wear out

519

really quickly and it's hard to.

520

Appreciate a body that is always tired.

521

Okay.

522

Another action I changed was I started

noticing small things that I had ignored

523

or taken for granted in the past.

524

For example, how strong my hands are.

525

It seems kind of silly, but I

can grab like six grocery bags at

526

once and take them into the house.

527

That is a huge blessing.

528

What if I had injured a hand or

broken a wrist or done something

529

that had limited my ability in

some way, I wouldn't have that.

530

And so I'm grateful for that.

531

How good my balances.

532

I'm really grateful for how good I've

become at balancing on one foot or when

533

somebody throws a ball at me or I'm

thrown off balance in some way or another.

534

I am pretty quick to heal from procedures.

535

I've had some skin cancer

procedures over the years.

536

I heal pretty quickly.

537

I currently don't have any regular pain

in my body, which is a huge blessing and

538

not one that everyone is grateful for.

539

Those might not be the ones that

you can be grateful for, but what

540

are small things that you can

start to notice and talk about?

541

So, yes, this kind of goes

back to the thoughts and the

542

feelings of, of being grateful.

543

But when I noticed them,

I actually physically.

544

Move them.

545

Like I might think about my

strong hands and flex them.

546

Right.

547

I might think about my

balance and try it out.

548

Yeah.

549

I am.

550

I am really good at balance or any number

of other things that I'm grateful for.

551

So see if you can incorporate those things

that you're grateful for into your life.

552

A little bit more.

553

Another action that I changed was

I stopped criticizing my body.

554

Granted, most of this was in my head.

555

So you could argue that it's a

thought, but very often it would be.

556

Publicly and out loud as well.

557

I would say, oh, I wish this or that,

or, oh, I hate that this or that.

558

And I got really tired of this.

559

I'm like, what is the benefit of

talking about how much I hate my thighs?

560

There is zero benefit instead.

561

It just makes me.

562

Better and complaining all the time.

563

And nobody wants to listen

to me or be around me.

564

Instead, I choose to focus on the

strength that my legs have, or my core

565

has, or my arms have, and to work on

the things that I'd like to improve.

566

I also changed the clothes

that I wear in a small way.

567

I started being very mindful.

568

Of how the clothes I wore made me feel.

569

So in the past, I would've worn

clothes that looked cute, but

570

maybe feel kind of not so great.

571

There were too tight or.

572

The heels were too high or they

were uncomfortable in some way.

573

Now I wear clothes that are comfortable,

but I also wear them that flatter

574

my body and make me feel amazing.

575

And this is such a personal decision.

576

You might feel the best

in workout clothes.

577

And so you only want to

wear leggings and tank tops.

578

Great.

579

You wear what makes you

feel amazing in your body?

580

But for me, it's to dress up a little bit.

581

As to where something that is relatively

flattering on my shape, my body shape,

582

and as to where something that I can.

583

Be pretty comfortable in, but side

note, that balance is kind of hard

584

to find something that's a little bit

dressy and also comfortable, but I've

585

worked really hard at it because that

helped me appreciate my body more.

586

The last action that I've worked on

changing and side note, I'm actively still

587

working on this is giving my body space

and permission to age and not be perfect.

588

Because I don't know if you've

noticed, but if you hit about 35 or

589

so, you've probably paid attention to

how your body is starting to change.

590

That over the years, our body starts

to lose collagen and muscle tone and

591

bone density and things become harder.

592

It becomes harder to maintain balance.

593

It becomes harder to feel strong.

594

It becomes harder to stay healthy.

595

Your body starts to age

and gradually decline.

596

That's going to lead to death.

597

That is normal.

598

That is what a body is supposed to do.

599

So how are we going to.

600

Confront this aging.

601

It's important to decide now.

602

If you decide in your twenties,

thirties, and forties, how you're going

603

to age, it's going to help you a lot

because you won't be taken by surprise

604

when your body starts to change and

look differently and be less able to

605

do things than you were in the past.

606

And you are more likely to

appreciate it all the way through.

607

So I personally have opted out of.

608

Any cosmetic procedure designed

to make me look younger.

609

This is a super personal decision, but I

personally am tired of fighting my body.

610

I spent many, many years fighting it.

611

I spent many years.

612

Being ungrateful for it.

613

And many years.

614

of wishing it were different

and I'm tired of that.

615

I don't want to do it anymore.

616

I want my body to know that I

love it exactly the way it is.

617

Wrinkles and gray hair

and all and saggy skin.

618

I w I love it.

619

And I'm so grateful for it.

620

I want to love my body the way

it is because unfortunately

621

fighting aging is a losing battle.

622

If you choose to do anything

that quote-unquote fights aging.

623

Great.

624

That's totally a personal decision.

625

But for me personally, I've noticed

that it's never going to end.

626

I'm just going to keep getting older and

it's not a battle that I want to fight.

627

I want to just step into appreciating

and loving my body exactly the way

628

it is at any day, wherever I am.

629

For me actively working

on accepting my body.

630

The way it is is one of the greatest gifts

that I can give back to God, because I

631

acknowledge that God gave me this body.

632

He created this incredible miracle.

633

Like I said, we barely

scratched the surface at

634

understanding how it even works.

635

And I want to step into gratitude.

636

I want to show him every day, how grateful

I am for it and the way he designed it,

637

even if I don't always appreciate all the

little oddities about it, but that is what

638

I am working on right now is becoming my

body's best friend and loving it exactly

639

the way it is, because we don't try to

change our best friends, our best friends.

640

We love exactly the way they are now.

641

It doesn't mean we don't

want them to get better.

642

And with our bodies, we actually have an

active role in that we can eat better.

643

We can exercise better.

644

We can sleep better.

645

We can take better care of it.

646

But the things that we can't change, we

don't sit around and moan and complain

647

about them because we love them.

648

Anyway.

649

So that's what I'm working on.

650

I hope some of my journey

through becoming my own body's

651

best friend is helpful to you.

652

I hope that it allows you to look at

your body through different lens, a

653

lens of gratitude and love and fully

embracing your body exactly the way it is.

654

A final reminder.

655

You are not your body.

656

This is one of my favorite

things to teach people.

657

Your body is.

658

simply the home of your soul.

659

And so when your body is not able

or doesn't look or feel the way

660

you would like it to it doesn't

mean you are any less of a person

661

you're just functioning in a body.

662

That's not maybe.

663

At it's a hundred percent

capacity and that's okay.

664

That's part of living this mortal life.

665

So let's take care of our bodies

the best way we know how and enjoy

666

every last minute of having one.

667

Doctor next week, friends.

668

Are you ready to start or

grow your dream business?

669

Click the link in the show notes to

download the free starter guide to

670

building a business or to schedule

a free coaching call And if you

671

loved this episode, Don't forget

to leave a review and share it with

672

a friend who might be feeling the

call to burn a little brighter.