Your Summer Body

I think I’m one of the lucky ones when it comes to the relationship I have with my body.

I don’t know if I came out of the womb as a chubby child, but it certainly didn’t take long to get there and stay there for a while. 

If it had been up to me, I would have gone on my first diet before I knew anything about food or food values. I mean I'd just mastered walking (just kidding!)

This isn't very comfortable to admit to but here goes. 

I don’t think I was more than ten years old when I asked my mom to pick up “deli meat and Fanta Orange Soda” at the grocery, all for the purpose of taking off a few pounds. 

Obviously, I didn’t understand caloric restriction!

I’ve always been aware of my body.  One of my aunts commented about my weight when I was a young girl and boy did it stick.  I've been conscious of body weight from late childhood, through puberty, adolescence to young adulthood.    

It didn’t help that I had three sisters and a mom who walked through life with “perfect bodies.”  Well, they were perfect for me. 

My oldest sister Ginger was short like me, but with an hourglass-shaped body that I thought was adorable. 

Cookie, Beth, and my mother (and most of my aunts) were impressively tall, and slender, with enviable flat stomachs and runner’s legs.  It was all a bit too much.

But I’ve survived it all.  I probably know more about weight control than one person should, but I’m happy to report that for close to 30 years I’ve lived a healthy lifestyle at a healthy weight.    

I call myself lucky because I’ve never felt the feeling of having a “perfect body.” 

How many times have I heard my women friends wax nostalgic about their younger bodies?  They remember the perky breasts that didn’t need a bra until after they’d had their first child.  The strong, smooth legs that never had so much as a speck of cellulite and of course the super-flat tummy and strong core that didn’t require so much as a sit-up or a plank. 

Yeah, never my reality.

And because of my past, my relationship to my summer body is about the same as my relationship to my year-round body.

How about you?  As you’ve aged what do you think?  What’s your body relationship? 

Because make no mistake, I have crepey skin and loose upper arms too. 

I do upper and lower body strength training.  But I think no amount of exercise is going to make much of a difference in bits of skin that resemble crepe paper.    

And I’m okay with that, wearing sleeveless blouses and dresses all summer long.  And where my legs are far, far from perfect, I still wear short skirts during the hot summer months in Austin.    

But it’s also because of my history I sympathize with women trying to make peace with their bodies.  It’s not easy. 

We notice our thinning hair, feel the dryer skin – ALL the dryer skin, if you know what I mean, or the fine facial lines and wrinkles that grace our faces. 

I know our world doesn’t always respect the look of an older women. 

But in this case, we, the keepers of that aging skin know better than the world.  We have the power to accept ourselves just as we are and find the beauty in our uniqueness. 

Collectively let's see if we can gently change our minds and love our changing bodies. 

Here are a few tips we can use to support our effort.

🍉Make Peace with the Process – the truth is aging is a natural and inevitable process that brings physical changes. That’s the long and short of it.  Trying to maintain an unrealistic youthful appearance keeps us crazy.  Let’s cultivate and nurture self-acceptance.

🍇Our New Mantra: HEALTH OVER APPEARANCE – Let’s get our priorities straight.  We know that health will always trump appearance.  Eat well.  Stay hydrated.  Exercise. Follow your doctor’s advice.  And then when all that’s handled (including your mental health,) put on a little lip gloss.

🍑Surround Yourself with Women Who Look Like You – Actually, I saw this somewhere online and I love it.  I don’t think the author means to toss out all your younger friends. 

It’s more about being closer to older women who exemplify self-confidence, joy for life, and a healthy relationship with their bodies (most of the time!) 

Remember “environment is stronger than will.”  If you surround yourself with women, even public figures who embrace their age with grace, their life attitude will rub off on you and you’ll feel more positive, more of the time.

🍓Control Your Thoughts – Like soooo many things it’s all about shifting our mindset from judging our physical flaws to honoring our body's strength, resilience, and our ability to support an active, fulfilling life as we age.  Let’s linger in those positive thoughts  

And so, our summer bodies?  I say we dress those bodies like the beautiful women we are. 

And don’t forget the sunscreen! Let’s decide to make this summer of 2024 the best one yet!

PS: There’s a book that hasn’t been released as yet, by Jane Beall, the very author who released a beautiful photo book called, The Bodies of Mothers: A Beautiful Body Project. Her next book will be “The Beautiful Bodies of Elders.”  Look for it soon.  In the meantime, if you’d like to see some of her amazing work check out her IG page.  ❤️