Day 2

The Body Warrior Pledge - Because I understand that my love and respect for my body are metaphors of my love and respect for my self and soul, I pledge:

• To stop berating my body and to begin celebrating the vessel that I have been given.  I will remember the amazing things my body has given me: the ability to experience the world with a breadth of sense, the ability to perceive and express love, the ability to comfort and soothe, and the ability to fight, provide, and care for humanity.
• To understand that my body is an opportunity not a scapegoat.
• To be the primary source of my confidence.  I will not rely on others to define my worth.
• To let envy dissipate and allow admiration to be a source of compassion by offering compliments to others.
• To gently but firmly stand up for myself when someone says something harmful.
• To change the inner monologue in my head to one that sees possibility not problems, potential not shortcomings, blessings not imperfections.
• To give my body the things that it needs to do its work well: plenty of water, amply movement, stretches, rest, and good nutrition, and to limit or eliminate the things that do not nurture my body.
• To see exercise as a way to improve my internal health and strength instead of a way to fight or control my body.
• To understand that my weight is not good or bad.  It is just a number, and I am only good.
• To love my body and myself today.  I do not have to weigh ten pounds less, have longer hair, or have my degree in my hand to have worth.  I have worth just as I am, and I embrace that power.
• To recognize my body's strengths.
• To no longer put off the things that I wish to experience because I am waiting to do them in a different body.
• To understand that a body, just like a personality, is like a fingerprint: a wonderful embodiment of my uniqueness.

The statements identified in bold print are the ones that I feel will take the most determination for me to embrace.  I often look to others to give me a sense of confidence, and I have been this way for a long time.  I have also always measured my worth by the things I have achieved or the things I have earned.  I will also have difficulty changing my inner monologue because I have had the same negative inner monologue for the past 28 years.  This is just a habit and will take some work to change.  I plan to just remember that I have put off way too many things in my life until I was the "right" weight, and I no longer want to waste my life.  I have to say only foreseeing difficulty with three out of the thirteen statements is not bad, and I am pleasantly surprised about this.  I am much further along than I used to be.