08. That you accept other people for who they are.
09. That the greatest thing we can do with our bodies is let them facilitate us lending ourselves to the people who need what we can give.
10. That you can taste your favorite food and treat yourself to it as often as you want to.
11. The knowing that nothing is permanent here, especially our physicality. This is a ride. The car needs to work to get you through it. People will judge you as much as they want, but their judgment will be theirs to reconcile, not yours.
12. The knowing that what we really need, on a core level, is the love and acceptance of other people, unconditionally. Maybe not
everybody. Maybe not many people. But in principle, by someone.
Our ability to give that far outweighs how we look while giving it.
13. THAT YOU CAN TASTE PIZZA.
14. That you cannot only be okay with your body when it looks and feels the way you want it to. That you find comfort in sometimes being very uncomfortable, and that you know it is not your responsibility to defer to anyone else’s level of comfort (or lack thereof).
15. That you have a mind to comprehend whom a person is and a body to show them that you understand them.
16. That you can cuddle with your pets.
17. That you pay your own bills.
18. The fact that we do indeed have these internal atlases, and that when we feel an unexplainable pull, we follow them, for they know much more than our minds can conceive.
19. That (some) people can create another human life if so they choose.
(That in itself is a freaking miracle.)
20. That you can swim and run and cry and scream and dance and float on water and feel weightless and free.
21. That your mouth can tell the people you love that you love them…
22. …and kiss some of ’em, too.
23. That you are able to evolve and change.
24. That you can make conscious decisions for yourself.
25. That you are conscious as a principle.
26. That you know how to let go and have a goddamn great time.
27. That you have the ability to let go of your attachment to how you believe things should look and embrace them as they are.
28. That beauty is not quantifiable.
29. That you realize food is not the enemy.
30. That you understand how contrived our idea of beauty is, how it has been engraved in our minds silently, in photos and side comments and expectations we learned from peers and mentors, unintentionally or not.
31. That you never have to accept a narrow definition of what’s beautiful.
32. That you understand that people will love you more for loving yourself.
33. That you know to love yourself means to be okay with not being totally okay with some parts of you all the time.
34. That you can cultivate your beliefs through your own experiences, learnings, and to whatever rings true.
35. That you can, and do, make decisions for yourself.
36. That you can stand up for yourself when passivity is no longer a choice.
37. That you can stand up for others when passivity is no longer a choice.
38. That it is only very small people who feel the need to make comments about other people’s appearance. That such an act comes from a very deep, very insecure place, and is not someone you should get angry at, but show love to, because they need it.
39. The fact that you can use your body to read your favorite books and read this right now.
40. That your body facilitates the things you love most in your life.
Your legs let you travel and your arms hug the people you love.
41. That you will never really know what great things lie ahead, and though the unknown may seem scary, that you aren’t supposed to.
It’s elusiveness that makes things feel incredible when they arrive.
42. How honest you can be with yourself about yourself.
