I've had some random thoughts that I think go here
First, I'll be right up front: I hate exercise. If I'm trying to lose weight, reshape something or rearrange my body, it ain't happening.
With that said, I do enjoy
movement. Alone at home, I like putting music on and shaking it all over my living room. I like to walk in the evenings. I actually enjoy hard housework and that feeling of accomplishment in my muscles afterwards.
I belong to an inexpensive gym near my home. Last night I thought, "What if you go and do some weight work, but just focus on the feelings in your body?" So I did! I enjoy the little pings in my legs after walking on the treadmills. I like that burn at full extension with a weight, and the release after I return to the start. I like the feel of sweat and stepping outside in the cool air
. I am such a sensualist. Maybe this is the approach I have to take, and hopefully the benefits will come anyway.
Then a little later I was in Wal-Mart, looking for a screwdriver or something totally unsexy. I found myself over in the sleepwear, and went straight to a silky pair of pj pants and a lacy black camisole with flowers all over it. Darn the voices in my head: "That's way too sexy; you're too fat for that". I bought it anyway, wore it last night, and felt like the sex queen of the Universe. But it's hard not looking in the mirror and telling yourself, "Oh well, I'm still fat, not the SQOTU". Why do we do that to ourselves?
On another note, has anyone noticed how women's magazines almost always have clothing articles like "Minimize your ass, make yourself look taller (it would take me standing on stilts to do that), flatten your tummy"? Especially around bathing suit season, and whenever jeans articles come out. I'm all for flattering ourselves and feeling good, but sometimes I think it's worth checking out who were really camoflaging ourselves for.
I had a thought; what if at Reunion next year, say at the Prom, we tried just a little to wear something that called attention to some part that we have condemned ourselves for? For example, if you don't like your calves, wear something with a slit. If you don't like your bust, find something with ruffles or wear a eye-catching locket. You get the idea. So often I think we imagine we're giant walking tummies or calves or whatever, not realizing that everyone else is self-conscious about something, and the very "flaw" we think we have, someone else finds hotter than hell. I will attest to that.
And finally, I LOVE the theme for next year. The pinups of the '30's and 40's were by no means thin by our standards-Marilyn Monroe was a size 16. Betty Grable was not thin, but took the most famous poster of all that time in a bathing suit. How many of us would pose as she did, right now? Jane Russell in a little tied-up shirt, or Rita Hayworth in that nightgown on the bed-erm, okay
.
Makes me wonder why, with all our diets and gyms and fancy workout things, we're so hard on ourselves and actually getting more unhealthy as a country? Those pinups didn't have all that, and all seemed pretty darn happy with their "assets". Interesting that all lived to ripe old age, too. Worth a thought.
<3