Not long ago I was in Palm Springs on vacation. My time-of-the-month decided to come a few days early and I felt bloated and HUGE. I was hot, sticky, and trying to figure out what to wear from my limited quick-weekend-trip wardrobe. I stared at myself in the mirror not pleased at the reflection and started some serious negative self talk. Subconsciously, I was tearing apart my body, extra fat, and curves; thinking how I ‘really’ need to snack less and eat more salads. The negative self talk took me down a spiral but somehow I snapped out of it. I acknowledged that I was in fact mentally destroying my body in the mirror. I knew it had to stop.
A few weeks prior I had seen an Instagram post by Lizzo and in the post she is wearing a black top and red shorts looking at herself saying, “First of all, WHO TOLD YOU, YOU COULD BE SO CUTE? WHOOOO? WHO TOLD YOU, YOU COULD BE SO CUTE?!…WHO TOLD YOU?!!! Damn!” Her caption also stating, “Every time u walk by a mirror I want you to hear this.” So in the mirror, wearing a bathing suit top, rolls proudly showing, stomach bloated and unhappy, I turned side to side and kept saying the Lizzo mantra of “Who told you, you could be this cute?” I am not kidding, my confidence skyrocketed in a matter of seconds, I threw on a cute beach wrap and waltzed out of the room. When my friends saw me they all complimented my adorable swimsuit and sheer beach wrap. Their compliments didn’t matter! What mattered was that I knew I was cute. I knew my body was strong, healthy, and beautiful as it was. Thanks to Lizzo my self-deprecation did NOT win.
As women, this seems to be an unfair universal and daily struggle. Lately I have referenced this above mantra in several conversations with my girlfriends (as our conversations tend to veer towards our own body self loathing- which we need to be better about stopping). The unfortunate fact is that it doesn’t matter how overweight or fit we are, it is a societal norm to hate our bodies. Another trick I learned from several people (too many to reference) is talking to you yourself as you would a younger version of yourself. Would you be so harsh? Would you be so mean? The first step is acknowledging that you are not being nice to yourself. The second step is stopping. The third step is apologizing to yourself and then showing yourself some love. Wear something that makes you feel good, talk nicely to that part of you that you dislike, speak with gratitude, don’t make empty promises to yourself about working out more or eating less…just stop and LOVE yourself. It is the single most impactful thing you can do that will change your life moment by moment, daily, and hopefully forever. It’s not too late to LIZZO LOVE on yourself!
WHO TOLD YOU, YOU COULD BE THIS CUTE?!!!!!!! – Lizzo
The Salty Exchange 
YESSSS!!!!! Everything about this just YESSS!!! Thank you for sharing this Shari!!
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