A letter to younger me: embrace your body amidst health advice overload

Dear Talia,

I know, the first few times they gave you health advice it seemed so simple. Just do this stretch everyday? Just eat this food every week? I can do that. I can do that! I can be healthy!

You didn’t know there was more. You didn’t know the more was infinite and polarized.

Always eat this but never that. Don’t stretch that way, that will cause problems down the line. You must exercise your eyes. You can’t forget about your toes. What about that organ? Did you know your skin is an organ? The largest! Did you moisturize? No not like that, like this. Just move like this for 15 minutes everyday. Make sure to cook with this kind of oil. That thing we said to eat everyday? Turns out it's toxic, don’t eat that. But are you doing kegels? Are you releasing your emotions? Are you brushing your hair? Actually don’t kegel. Curly hair needs combs. Do you massage your lymph nodes? Do you crack your back? Do you connect with your aura? Do you release your glutes? Do you take magnesium? Do you wear loose clothing? Sunscreen? Glasses? Do you meditate? Do you track your macros? Do you journal? It’s so simple, really, you wouldn’t believe what just 5 minutes a day can do.

It felt like a promise. Health. Thinness. Happiness. Acceptance. Eternal life.

I still see you, 14 years old, doing crunches every night, checking in the mirror for the abs that never visibly formed and crying over the back pain that didn’t go away. But I did thing! I hear you say, I checked the box!

I’m sorry. If I could go back to you, I’d want you to know that Bodies are wild, complex, mysterious, mammalian creatures. They are not all the same. Humans sometimes give advice as if all bodies would respond equivalently, but we are wrong to do so.

Your job on this earth is to get to know your body. Find out what she likes and does not like. Find out what helps her feel joyful and alive. Learn what lessens the pain, or what the pain is saying and what helps her be a container for it. You can listen to the advice, sure! Maybe some of it aligns with this magical body of yours! And if it doesn’t, let it go, let it float away, let it mean nothing about you. There are no guarantees. There is no perfection. There is no eternity.

There is just now. Just sacred little now. Just you swimming and figuring out– of everything available to you in this now– what do you actually want?

Love,

Talia