Comparing Bodies

One of the things I do when I'm in a public situation and have the urge to compare is to say my mantra over and over again: "Everyone's DIFFERENT!" Not better, not worse, just different.

Yeah, I see these beautiful women with slender waists (I don't even HAVE a waist!) and slender upper arms (mine swing), but then I remember I also have to notice that some of them have tubby tushies, and thunder thighs, and some of them have no chins, and some of them have multiple chins, and some of them have straight hair and some of them have curly hair, blonde, black, huge boobs, no boobs, and all the other things that people can hate about themselves, and ya know what? Why am I obsessing over my "flaws" when I have so many other parts of my body that are just FINE, and why is it so important, anyway?

I have yet to see the "perfect" woman, but that's because she doesn't exist. So why should I expect perfection for myself?

When you compare, it's not reality; it's your obsession with perfection. Keep reminding yourself of that: it's NOT REAL! You are just as beautiful as the rest of them, if you can only allow yourself to see that. And while I will admit that I'm not always successful at this effort, I think it IS worth it, because I am working on allowing MYSELF to feel better. And that's what matters.

Body Image

I was going to send this private to a certain lovely young lady, but then I decided to post it so everyone could read it. Just like there are stereotypes of all T2's being fat, there are also stereotypes of all T1s being thin (and diagnosed during childhood). None of these is true. While most (but NOT all!) T1s probably WERE skinny at diagnosis, due to the fact that the diabetes had been eating away at their bodies for quite some time before diagnosis, once they went on insulin, their natural body metabolism took over, and they once again were on track to be the size their genetics determined they should be, assuming normal and healthy food intake.

It's bad enough that MOST women buy into this idea that we should ALL be thin and pear-shaped, but for a woman with T1 diabetes, it's even more damaging, because weight loss is so easily achievable (although at a tremendous cost). If truly NORMAL women have a wide variety of body shapes, why shouldn't we? We're no different from them, except for having uncooperative pancreata!

And while I may sound like I'm preaching from on high, this is EXACTLY the issue I myself am struggling with. I was never fat, but I'm built like a barrel, with no waistline. And my family has called me fat ever since I was a child, only because my sister was skin and bones thin. And they threatened me with diabetes (my grandmother had it) if I ate things they didn't approve of. What a load of crap to put onto a child! And if it's crap for a child, it's certainly crap for the rest of us as well. 

I already know that the vast majority of women don't look like air-brushed, anorexic models, but who ever said they should? The women I know and love ARE physically beautiful just as they are, and I want them to take care of their physical and mental health as best as they can (although there are always bumps in the road), and devote their lives to the causes that are important to them. Aren't you a worthwhile person who is contributing to the world, a lovable person, and a beautiful person? So who cares what those artificial, arbitrarily made-up BMI tables say, anyway?