Body Empowerment

We are a month past December 21, 2012 - the Winter Solstice, the long awaited date of the Mayan Prophesy, the day many feared some negatively earth-shattering apocalypse, while others embraced an opportunity whereby a new earth, a new energy, a new hope would shift our world as we knew it into something beautiful, free, and profound.

Here on the other side, I see myself and my loved ones dripping old trinkets of fear as it bubbles to the forefront brewing a most lesson-filled concoction.

Apocalypse or new earth, we are undoubtedly confronting a final frontier that is fear. We are shedding ourselves of that which terrifies us, that which haunts, that which holds.

And so, what if we embrace our vulnerable sweet spots? Perhaps a garden of self awareness may grow. And together, our gardens become lush forests of tranquility.

We got this.

I see so many posts on Tumblr projecting and expressing food as fear. As someone that had an eating disorder for ten years, and a very difficult relationship with food throughout the years leading up to the eating disorder, I know that place - where food is a nefarious enemy, where food is pain, where food is terrifying. I have been there. 

I wish we lived in a world where no one feared food. I know we can make that world. If we are all microcosms of the world - mini universes coexisting as a larger one - and if it is possible for an individual to not fear food, then by the property of similarity, the world at large can look that way too.

Food is fuel. Food is a luxury in this world were poverty is a devastating worldwide epidemic. Food keeps our bodies alive physically, while simultaneously love, and love, and more love help nurtures our souls. 

I know that food can be terrifying. I do. When the pain inside is so paralyzing, so overwhelming, so profound, this pain can so easily manifest into food - or our own bodies - and become the enemy. It makes sense how that happens. It makes perfect sense. But that doesn’t mean it has to happen. It doesn’t mean we have to keep feeding - pun intended - this divisive approach to that which keeps our bodies alive, allowing us to live and touch this world and feel the love around us, that which so many - too, too, too many - don’t have access to. In this way, the real “enemy” or “fear” or concern is actually poverty. 

With Thanksgiving only days away, especially for those who struggle with eating disorders, disordered eating, body image, or their relationship with food, the pressure around “feasting” and seeing food as a simultaneous terror and joy can be tremendously complicated. May we remember that we do not have to hate food, we do not have to fear food, we do not have to use food to manifest our deepest fears. 

And more importantly, we do not have to keep these fears, from where these fears come, and why these fears manifest silent. So, while it can be so challenging to let go of that fear, of that enemy relationship, what if we - at the very least - consider taking the risk to at least start talking about this. Start talking about why we place so much fear around food, around calories, and around that which nurtures us and give us sustenance to survive?

Let’s talk. Let’s share. Let’s take these risks together.