Ready To Challenge Your Inner Critic In Menopause?
May 11, 2023
Be honest–how many times have you looked at a picture of yourself, taken while you were having fun, just to delete it the first chance you got?? I’ll raise my hand. I’ve deleted==or ripped up, before the age of digital cameras–so many pictures that I wish I hadn’t. I’m still tempted to delete, delete, delete, but now, when I look at a photo of myself, I try to remember the experience rather than scanning my body for imperfections.
In this picture, I was hanging out with people I love on a beautiful beach in Puerto Rico. You can tell I was having a blast, right? But my eyes skipped right over the big smile and gorgeous setting. All I could see was this new belly pouch menopause has bestowed on me. I did all the things: zoomed in, rolled my eyes in disgust, and let the body image monster completely out of its box.
As you can see, I did not delete this picture (well, I did, but I recovered it from my deleted files). It’s not that I magically fell in love with my changing body, but that I don’t want to destroy the physical evidence of experiences that have brought me much joy.
Why am I sharing this?
If you’ve been reading my newsletters over the past 2 months, you know that I’ve decided to share my own menopause experience. I believe that we, as a community, can help each other much more by being honest and vulnerable, hard though it may be. I’ve spent years sharing sciency knowledge, and I’ll continue to do that when it feels right, but working exclusively with menopausal women, especially in my Masterclass, has changed my view of what’s most powerful to improve our quality of life during this challenging journey. We often dismiss our own life experience, insight and knowledge. That has to stop. We didn’t get to this stage of life without learning a thing or two about our bodies, mind, and soul. It’s time to challenge that inner critic. Don’t just silence or ignore it. Acknowledge and challenge it! Talk back to it: “Oh, so you don’t think my belly should have been exposed to the Puerto Rican public? Shocker!” The more you do that, the less power it will have. It takes practice, but it does get easier.
Last weekend I went to Yosemite National Park for the first time. Of course, I took many pictures, and I didn’t feel any temptation to delete! Instead, I made a conscious effort to focus on this amazing experience. My belly fat and thigh cellulite came along for the trip and they did not prevent me from hiking and taking in all of nature’s beauty. And that’s what it comes down to – your body is more than your perception of how it looks. It allows you to go on adventures, spend quality time with your loved ones, and hike up the most uncomfortable trails to witness a beautiful waterfall. Let’s focus more on that.
Does this resonate with you? Any pictures or videos you deleted because you hated how you looked, but now you wish you still had? I’d love to hear them. Please share by emailing me at [email protected]
