I’m in a “you are beautiful” type of space today. It feels like 99.8% of the news and articles I come across every day are about negative messages that we are sent about ourselves, our bodies, and what it means to be beautiful. Whether they are messages from the media telling us we “should” look a certain way, or if they are attacks on those messages themselves — it feels negative, negative, negative! How is one supposed to recover from bulimia, anorexia, or binge eating disorder if all that we encounter are negative messages. Puts me in a negative mood. And that’s right where the eating disorders want us to be! How about battling eating disorders and negative body image with love, acceptance, and hope?
I was inspired to write this post when someone I respect deeply shared this about her own recovery:
“I tried ending my own eating disorder with a lot of force, judgment, guilt tripping and punishment. We all know that drill. One day I woke up and decided to try gentleness instead. In that moment, my road to recovery was born. I found real strength through gentle self acceptance.”
The same day that she shared these words, I received a book I had ordered entitled Operation Beautiful: Transforming the Way You See Yourself One Post-It at a Time. Operation Beautiful is a movement started by Caitlin Boyle whose “mission is to post anonymous notes in public places for other women to find. The point is that WE ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL: you are enough…just the way you are!”. Leafing through the book and then checking out the website, I was inspired and empowered by the energy this project creates all over the world. Energy to love and accept ourselves and others, sending a message of peace, anonymously, not caring who you are. Imagine the power that a movement like this can have! There is no ulterior motive, no attempt to sell us anything, just a pure message that you are okay just as you are.
Here is an example of one of the messages left anonymously:
Join the movement! Leave an Operation Beautiful message in a bathroom or public place with a message of empowerment and self-acceptance. You could help someone who might be struggling with an eating disorder such as bulimia forget about the other messages they are sent (the hurtful ones) and focus on the amount of hope and change they can embody! If you see a post-it, send in a picture of it to OperationBeautiful.com, where it might be featured and where it could ever expand the amount of good that message can do.
Finally, my day of “you are beautiful” is complete with sharing this inspiring video about ANOTHER wonderful project called “The Body Image Project”.
Look at you // The Body Image Project from Body Image Project on Vimeo.
Today you can join in spreading love and helping others find self-acceptance with knowing that they are beautiful inside and out!
