Be Yourself

If you read my blog posts, you know I’m a fierce advocate for being unapologetically yourself. Now, this doesn’t mean you have license to be a jerk, this just means be fully who you are, without worrying about whether others will like you. Life is messy, leave it that way, is one of my mottos. One of the things we get so weird about in U.S. culture is the body, especially bodies identified as female. There is a narrow range of what is considered acceptable. I’ve been thinking a lot about this topic.

This month I’ve been participating in LexPoMo, or Lexington Poetry Month. The goal is to post a poem every day for the month of June. I am by no means a poet, but I’ve been having fun experimenting with the form. One of the poems I shared is about accepting all of who you are physically.

This moment

Right now

And every moment

Be yourself

Your glorious, messy, complicated self

Run from those who want to

tidy you up

make you fit a mold

you are magnificent, beautiful, amazing

just the way you are

yes you with your messy hair, your crow’s feet, your jiggling belly

you with your laugh lines, your batwings, your wattle

you with your baby face, your knobby knees, your tooth gap

you with your rubbing together thighs

you with your thighs that gap

you with your cankles

you with your skinny ankles

you with your sunny disposition

you with your obstinate opposition

You

Are

Beautiful

Just the way you are