It's
been a year. A year and a half, actually. Eighteen months since I
began a health odyssey that started as an innocent stomach bug and
ended much later. Well, it hasn't really ended, but I can see the finish
line from here.
Long Story Sort of Short
The
stomach bug didn't end in 24 hours like it's MO says it should. It
didn't end at all. To summarize, for over a year, I could not eat
much, had constant abdominal pain, could not get up and do anything
for more than fifteen minutes before exhaustion set in, had a body
temperature like I was floating on an iceberg, and had to stay in
immediate proximity to a bathroom at all times. TMI? My friend, you
have no idea. I will never again underestimate the value of normal
bowels. Just saying.
I
lost over 50 pounds involuntarily. That's not as awesome as many
women assume. Because it was so fast and unhealthy, all the muscle
mass has gone bye-bye with the fat. Do you know there are muscles in
places you never even thought of that you need to function?
Like even vocal muscles? Yeah, truth.
Why
am I inflicting this story on you, like you just got stuck in the DMV
line behind the old lady who wants to tell you her entire pitiful
health history, in graphic detail, just before getting a driver's
license you are quite certain she should not have, given that
history?*
There
is a point.
A
year and a half ago, I could not imagine uttering phrases like “I
really need to gain some weight.” A year and a half ago, I would
look in a mirror, or at a photograph, and think, “Eew. Look at that
fat stomach and those chubby short legs. I hate the way I look.”
I
knew this was wrong. I preach all the time about girls owning their
bodies and not being ashamed of them. But what we say and know to be
true and what we feel in our hearts are not always the same deal, are
they?
Now
I look at photos and think, “Eeew. I look like a poster for a 'Don't Do Meth, Kids' campaign.”
My
arms and neck are scrawny; they look like I imagine my mom's would
have if she had lived to be 80. I am not 80. Or even orbiting in its
proximity. I have bags and creases the size of an elephant's under my
eyes as a result of of chronic dehydration. Half of my hair has gone
AWOL. And that famous thigh gap? Yeah, got that, too. It's not nearly
as glamorous as it's made out to be.
|
Before. |
|
Now. A picture i really hate. I give it to you. |
Too
fat. Too skinny. Too fill in the blank. Whatever, people.
I am over
it.
Ten Seconds of Awesome
For
about ten seconds in the last eighteen months, I looked like we
always fantasize—exactly the right weight. Then the scales tipped
too far the other direction, and self-criticism set in again. And I
realized, how dumb is that? To only feel confident about how you look
for ten seconds of your life? What a waste of the other millions of
seconds.
Is constant self-criticism really a good use of the time God gave me? [tweet this].
Is a focus on the unattainable a colossal waste of what I can attain right now, today? [tweet this].
Have I failed to be grateful for the amazing gift of a body that's alive, no matter what it looks like? Have I failed to be thankful for a soul that's alive?
So
you know what? I'm owning it. At least, I'm trying to. Let's be real,
here, I am a proud creature, as are most of us. I don't like looking
at photos of myself when I look far worse than I want. Yet I want
to want those photos. I want to own them. This is who I am,
this is what I look like, and this is where God has brought me.
And
to deny that and be ashamed of seeing it, looking at it, letting
others see the truth and beauty of what it looks like to be
deconstructed and revived? Thats a worse kind of pride I don't want
to harbor. It's a pride that won't let others in because I only want
them to see the image I want to portray. It's not ministry--it's just
selfish. It's thinking so much about me I don't ever look away from
the selfie to see the ones who need me to be real for them.
I
want to spend November being grateful on the blog. You know, because,
Thanksgiving.
Grateful is Good
Today,
I am grateful. I am grateful for where I am. I am grateful for what
I've learned. I am so grateful to be alive, to be getting healthy, and to
see an end to this long tale. I do NOT take for granted that I can
get up and have energy to do life anymore.
A year and a half of
enforced nothingness has taught me gratitude for just about
everything my body can do and did do before without considering what
a miracle that is. I am grateful for whatever that body looks
like, in whatever stage it is, because it works. It functions. It is
capable of doing whatever it needs to do to be what God wants me to
be. I have been forcefully reminded that this is really all it needs
to be.
Grateful.
What
do you need to be? What are you not owning as yours, as something God
can and will use? Look at it. Take a picture. Whatever works. Say
thank you. Even if you don't really mean it just yet. Saying it
starts the work of meaning it.
*
True funny/slightly terrifying story. I once had a woman hit my car
five times with her car door because she could not figure out that
she had parked too close to me to be able to get out of her car. (The
full parking job is a story unto itself.) She just kept hitting me,
perplexed as to why it would not open. I was Sitting. In. the Car.
She proceeded to get out of the car (after finally reparking, a half
dozen times), grab her walker, and get into line at the DMV. Jesus
hold us all if that lady actually got a renewal and is on the roads.