Body Issues

Some of you have noticed my running notes.

No, I’m not trying to turn any of you into runners, but I do hope you’ll do something good for your bodies.

So many of us who were sexually abused as kids wind up with “body issues,” don’t we?

Beloveds, I can already hear some of you out there chuckling at that. I know what you’re thinking.

“Body issues” is a bit of a euphemism and a laughable understatement, isn’t it?

Lots of sexual abuse victims wind up as anorexics, bulimics, and cutters. Or they try to detach by numbing themselves with alcohol and drugs. Many try the ultimate means of physical detachment -- suicide. Far too many succeed.

One way or another, we’re pretty good at detachment, aren’t we?

So that’s part of why I’m running more. I want to reconnect physically.

I’ve also been thinking about how something so physically horrible caused such awful consequences for us mentally. So I’m thinking the same body-mind connection may work with good things.

Maybe if we do things that are physically good for our bodies, it will wind up having good consequences for us mentally.

So here’s my mom-style advice for the day: Do something good for your body.

Take a walk, schedule a check-up, stretch to the sky, eat more vegetables, or my personal favorite (the one that always makes my daughter roll her eyes)….drink more water.

Whatever you choose, at least for today, do something good for your body.