I have a confession.
Last weekend I spent $50 on a pair of Spanx to hold my tummy in.
Even as I was walking to the check out I knew it wasn’t right… I was conducting an inner battle in my head which was so loud I thought the Myer lady might have heard it.
I was wearing a certain dress for a wedding and I wished my stomach looked flatter in it.
This is the part of my body I struggle with. (Oh and my increasingly deep frown line that I refuse to Botox) I didn’t even realise I had such a problem with my tummy until I was handing over $50 for constricting jocks.
I know I’m not the only one who has insecurities around their tummy. Actually, there’s bloody heaps of us… Spanx had an estimated revenue of 400 MILLION DOLLARS last year alone. FOUR HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS.
Whoa. That is just ONE company selling these things. God knows what the actual total is.
Why are we doing this to ourselves? I am promoting body confidence yet here I am worrying about how much my belly sticks out. What the fuck.
I miss Spain.
When we lived in Spain the beach trips were a daily reminder of the variety of body shapes, colours, ages and sizes. Everyone close to naked enjoying their bodies out in the sun. It felt so liberating. Young girls through to old ladies running (or lazing) around topless, no shame, no hiding. Big bellies. Round bellies. Wrinkly bellies. Stretched bellies. Pert boobs. Saggy boobs. Uneven boobs. Everything and anything.
I was just talking about those nostalgic memories with my nine year old daughter and she said Spanish beaches were like dog beaches but for humans. Where everyone just embraced how their bodies looked and had a great time! We often joke about how if dogs were insecure about their different shapes and abilities that they wouldn’t enjoy the beach as much. Have you been to a dog beach? It is PURE JOY!
So, clearly the conditioning around body image run deep… Even she who preaches it finds herself a sucker sometimes.
I don’t know the answer but felt I needed to confess.
PS. I am writing this with my tummy hanging out, which is where it will be free to be from now on…. Sorry tummy, I love you. xx
PPS. I’m off to re-watch the Embrace documentary to give myself a top up of self love and body confidence.
