Skin is flexible for a reason

If our bodies were meant to be a certain weight and shape we would have an exoskeleton. We would all be walking around like crabs. Instead we have skin that is tough enough to act as the first line of defense against infection and injury, but malleable enough to allow our bodies to adapt and change as needed. There are SO many things that we cannot change that affect our shape. We call these non-modifiable factors in the medical world:

“If our bodies were meant to be a certain weight and shape we would have an exoskeleton. We would all be walking around like crabs.”

• Hormones

• Genetics

• Sex

• Age

• Required Medications

• Unavoidable life circumstances

And yet, over and over, I hear those around me trying to fix, change and control body weight and shape through diet and exercise. Its sounds familiar because I used to think that way too. It makes me sad because I now know there is an easier, softer and kinder way to be in this world and to be in our bodies.

I have come to find the word “healthy” to be an unfortunate word because it implies a standard. For me, anything taken to the extreme or done on a self-inflicted schedule is “unhealthy”. Anything that comes from a place of external influence, rather than internal inspiration is “unhealthy”.

In a world of distorted messages about what is healthy, I have learned what is most healthy is to not follow any standard of what someone else determines to be “healthy”. I don’t follow an exercise routine because what my body and soul needs is different on different days. I don’t follow a specific diet or prohibit/restrict any food because what I need to feel satiated changes day to day. What I ask for now is balance.

Finding this state required me to learn to let go of control. I found it (and still sometimes find it) unsettling to not have structure and routine. I was worried that without an agenda and a to-do list I would lay in bed all day or be incredibly “unproductive”. And honestly, sometimes I do because that’s what my body and soul asks from me. But inevitably after a period of time, when I give myself permission to relax into that state, I feel inspired to do more than would have been possible if I tried to plow through.

Now what I consider to be “healthy” is to live in balance. In the wise words of Deborah Adele “Balance does not look a certain way because it isn’t at set standard to impose upon ourselves; it’s not something we can plan or schedule. Balance instead comes from listening to the guidance and wisdom of the inner voice. Balance will look different in each of us and even different in each of us at different times.” It took me a really long time to get here but what I do now is listen to my body. Before the day starts, in that sliver of a space between sleep and the activities of the day, I get quiet, sit with myself and listen to a deeper intuition. Following that intuition never leads me astray.