So Please, Be Gentle With Your Body

To the girl looking at her reflection with an unhappy frown.

Please stop doing that. You know exactly what I am talking about.

That you, who is looking at your body in the mirror right now, telling yourself that you are not good enough, that you will never be good enough. Maybe you think your nose is too long, or your skin is awful or your hair just not straight enough. Maybe you are standing there right now, magazine cover in hand, wondering what you can do to make yourself look like the model on the cover – even though some part of you knows that even the model doesn’t look like that in real life. But no, you’re already thinking of how you can eat less without anyone noticing, or go whole days without feeling hungry. You already can’t sleep on your sides because your bones digging into your sides. You don’t have an eating disorder yet. But you’re getting there fast. Or maybe you do and are in denial. I know I was.

Here’s the thing. We all do this to ourselves. Scrutinize, judge, misunderstand our bodies on such a superficial, skin deep level, that we forget this: On a grander scale, our bodies are collections of the strangest and most fascinating things.

For instance, did you know that you are made of seven octillion atoms? That’s enough enough to create a small universe inside you. And your bones…they are four times stronger than concrete because they are made from the marrow of the stars themselves. Your eyes are the most incredible camera lens man will ever know, and your brain works ninety nine percent faster than the most powerful supercomputer on this planet.

Are you aware that not a single fibre in your body comes from the same star? It took billions of pieces of stardust, some that are thirteen billion years old to come together to make your body. And the chance of that happening is so little, so minute that you are a living, breathing impossibility.

The connected neurons of your brain, are a direct reflection of the universe. Did you know this? That the structure of your brain is modeled on the structure of the universe – a beautiful representation of your brain.

Your body is this incredible cosmic vessel afloat in the darkness, constantly changing to accommodate the evolution of a nebula to a star. And even though you do not feel at home inside your skin yet, your body has always been your home – a place that has sheltered you and loved you no matter what it has gone through.

So please, be gentle with your body. It loves you more than anyone or anything in this world. It fixes every cut, every wound, every broken bone, and fights off so many illnesses, sometimes without you even knowing about it. Even when you punish it, it is still there for you, struggling to keep you alive, keep you breathing. Your body is an ocean full of love. So please, be kind to it. It’s doing the very best it can.