Love Your Body

Dear Body,

I think it’s long overdue for me to be doing this.  What is this exactly?  Well, it’s a thank you sprinkled in with a little apologizing.  I know it may seem silly, but today I realized that this is necessary.

You’ve put up with a lot of shit (both literally and metaphorically) your whole life, a lot of it from me and our society.  Putting up with snide remarks from my sister, father, peers, ex’s, and from everyone who doesn’t look the same as you must have been, and probably still is, a challenge that some can’t handle.  Some people are even afraid of you just because of your disposition, and I know that has to suck.  Even though you’ve endured more than a lot of people have, you’ve hung in there and have stayed with me up until now without fail.  But now let me get into the specifics of why I’m thanking you.

1. First and foremost, thank you for being a fully functioning body.  You could be disabled like some other bodies, but like a G, everything pretty much works as it sh0uld.  You’ve never given out on me when I really needed you even though I’m sure there are plenty of times where I know you wanted to.

2. Sometimes you get sick, but I assure you that there are many other bodies out there that get much sicker and much more easily than you.  In addition, every time there is something wrong it’s usually never for too long, which is pretty cool.  Plus you’re not allergic to much, so that’s pretty dope as well.

3. You’re a pretty resilient bastard as well.  There are plenty of instances where my shoulders could have been dislocated, my leg broken, my knee cap replaced, but you pulled through.  Of course, there are times when I have to put things back in place or adjust awkward joints, but I can live with that.  You’ve been with me through soccer, baseball, basketball, marching band, track and field, and football so for sure you’ve been banged around a good bit.  But you’re still up and ready to go.

4. Your features are aren’t too bad as well.  Decent skin complexion, decent hair, the grill is straight (despite the ex-wisdom teeth fucking things up), decent lips, peanut head (better than a watermelon or walnut head right?), solid body frame, broad shoulders, decent toes, fingers, and nails, and pretty sexy eyebrows haha.  I think these things could be a lot worse, right?

5. If the world freezes over and there’s a lack of warmth and little food, I know you’ll be able to survive longer than others.  Also, I like the way you distribute body weight.  Think about it, it could all just go to my ass, neck, thighs, ankles (to form cancles), stomach, but I think it’s spread out pretty evenly.  You’ve been burned, scratched, cut, scraped, and stretched all over, yet you still have no major skin issues.  Dope.

6. You could be waaaaaaaaaaaaaay less endowed, so that’s a blessing.

7. Sure, you cramp up on me at the most inopportune moments sometimes, but you’ve never ripped/torn a muscle regardless of the weights that I have lifted.  When I really try at it, you drop weight like it’s a bad habit.  Some people don’t have to work at all to do this, but some people work their asses off to achieve only half of what you can do.  You’re also pretty strong even though most people can’t see that.

8. For 20 years, you have not only shouldered adversity but have proudly stood tall as a Black Man in a society that is working against you.  You also have the ability to fight for anything while being able to take a beating when need-be.  Your posture is pretty decent as well, regardless of the fact that you’ve been playing an instrument that is roughly half your height presently since you were 12 years old.

That’s a brief list of why I’m thankful to have the body that I have.  Sure, it’s not flawless, but it’s perfect for me.  For depriving it of sleep, putting unhealthy things into it, and doing other things to it that I probably shouldn’t have, it’s been pretty good to me.  Shit, if I don’t love my body for all that it’s done for me, then we’ll have a very long and difficult (or very short) life together.  To the readers out there, love your body as well and fuck what others say about it.  If you love it, then I guarantee that others will like/love it too.

Since the body is good, I guess it’s time to work on the mind…

PNBE

Snowfield Rhapsody

#body #life #love