September 25, 2022 “Dear Body”
This week a client shared part of her journal with me. This is what she wrote:
First and foremost, I am sorry that I mistreated you. It was never my intention to cause harm, set you up for diseases/ injury, burden you with extra weight, fat, stress and pain. I never meant to hurt you. For so many years I ate, drinked and enjoyed the option of eating whatever I wanted: fast food, fried and greasy food, and so many other non-nutritional things. I have learned my lesson and I promise to treat you better. As you may have noticed, I am eating foods that are better for you, have nutritional value, and will aid in healing you and preparing you for long life and optimal health. It is my goal to do the best I can so that we can live a life full of abundance and hope. Although you may be ailing now, I declare and decree that I will be a better steward of what GOD has blessed me with. There is so much life ahead of us that I want to have assurance of sustainability, mobility, efficiency, restoration and love. You are the most important part of me because my life and spirit lies within you. Although no one ever taught me how to take care of you, now I get it because without you there is no me! If I had a lifetime I cannot express how sorry I am for not taking better care of you. It was not intentional, but preventable. So I write this letter and ask for forgiveness and to express my gratitude for your support over the years. You have carried me through the ups and downs and have never failed. For this I am so grateful. I promise that I will take care of you: live right, eat and drink foods that are good for you, exercise, take vitamins, cleanse, and fuel you with greatness. For I know what a blessing you are and I value our relationship.
I am Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, Body, Mind and Spirit
Writing letters to yourself is a wonderful exercise of self-love. It will allow you to release emotions, heal yourself and find inspiration through your own writing. Letter writing has become a lost art in the digital age. Letter writing to yourself is just another practice of intentional journaling and can be very therapeutic. You can dive deep within, release emotions, explore your dreams and ultimately find healing and inspiration through your own words!
First off, let me start by saying that it’s okay to feel like you aren’t doing as well as you are supposed to and that you want to improve and do better. Here are steps and lessons you can gain from writing a letter to yourself.
Cultivate Gratitude – one of the best things for your emotional health is to practice gratitude regularly, as you can see from this letter, she is grateful that her body has supported her over the years even if she has not taken care of it. An expression of gratitude is one of the wisest things you can include. Fill your letter with positive affirmation and appreciation for the person you are and the person you are working towards being.
Increase self-awareness – confront your own shortcomings, they show you how much you have grown. This takes you one step closer toward understanding exactly what it is that makes you authentically YOU!
Create your future – where will you be at the end of this bootcamp or the next camp? Who do you want to become, Most Fit, Biggest Loser, Green Team to Orange Team Member, etc. Maybe you feel stuck at the fitness level you are at, and you are uncertain about how to advance. This exercise helps you get your thoughts out of the present and keeps you focused on what is yet to come.
Appreciate the passage of time - One day your life is going to end. We can be so consumed with our demanding jobs and fast paced lives that we fail to see the bigger picture. Rather than think day-to-day, we could gain so much if we challenged ourselves to comprehend years and even decades. Experiencing life this way brings patience and confidence. When the thought of death and getting older are present, it becomes easier to realize the shortness of life and appreciate “time”. This letter recognizes that life is not guaranteed and wants to live it to its fullness, and she promises to stop taking it for granted and to take care of her body.
Give yourself a memory – You are about to start a new bootcamp/fitness routine, there is no better way to commemorate it than by writing a letter to yourself. Like a snapshot of your life at a point in time, it will be nostalgic to look back and see what you were thinking at this pivotal moment in your life. Write about the goals you may have or your desire to become the biggest loser, or to bet on yourself and what that will mean to you.
You could even make this an annual tradition, by writing a letter to yourself every year. Wait until the letter matures and open it in a year or five, you will have a constant stream to read and to cherish every year for the rest of your life. Give yourself some inspiration and write a letter to your fitness self. No Mess.
