Dear Body: A Letter to Yourself
Hello everyone,
Have you ever paused to take a moment to think about your relationship with your body? We often have complex feelings about our bodies – sometimes love and appreciation, other times frustration or even dislike. I guess it is all part of the journey. This exercise is part of Eating Disorder Awareness Week.
As we celebrate the EDAW, we are inviting you to participate in a meaningful exercise: writing a letter to your body. It is your safe space to express *any* feelings you have, whether positive, negative, or somewhere in between. Maybe you want to thank your body for its strength and resilience, or maybe you need to express some frustrations. You can even share your hopes for your body's future.
Please know there are no rules here. You need to be honest, be vulnerable, and be you. It is more about connecting with yourself and fostering a more mindful and kind relationship with your body.
You can do it two ways:
1. Take a piece of paper and pen and write a letter to yourself. And let us know if you did it here in this thread and how did it make you feel.
2. If you are comfortable sharing your letter with us, you can share it here in this thread and we all can reflect and further discuss it as you feel comfortable.
3. Anyone can do this exercise and not limited to the ones who struggle with ED.
Whether you choose to share it with us or keep it private is entirely up to you. We are simply here to encourage and support you on this journey of self-discovery and acceptance.
Who's ready to write their letter? Let's begin
@ASilentObserver
I love this idea so much, Obzieee!
My relationship with my body isn't the best always, but over time I've definitely grown to adopt a more healthier perspective and truly do feel grateful for this magical human body that does literally everything for us.
I'll definitely write a letter in my journal!
Sending love and strength to everyone coming across! 💛
@Sunisshiningandsoareyou Thank you for sharing your reflection with us, sunnie. It is brave and beautiful. It really takes so much strength to navigate those complex feelings, and seems like you have made amazing progress. A letter of gratitude to your body is such a powerful act of self-compassion and I am glad you speak about your body with such appreciation.
it awesome
@certusrisus1 Please do try and let us know your experiences here, if comfortable, Cert. i look forward to hearing from you.
@ASilentObserver
I actually sat down and wrote a letter to my body, and wow, that was something. It made me think about how I treat myself, both the good and the not-so-great parts. It felt kinda weird at first, but also really nice to just put everything into words. Definitely made me realize I should be a little kinder to my body. Really cool exercise, and I’m glad I did it!
<3
@Esha00 Thank you for participating and sharing your experience with us, Esha. That was an encouraging start. Writing a letter to your body is such a unique way to connect with yourself. I understand how it can feel a little strange initially, but the fact that you pushed through and found it beneficial is a good step. Identifying both the positive and the areas needing kindness is a good step. It takes courage to be that vulnerable with yourself; we appreciate you for that. So if I can ask you, what is one small act of kindness you would like to do for your body today?
@ASilentObserver
Thank you so much for your kind words! As for a small act of kindness, I think I’ll take a few extra moments to just rest and appreciate my body for carrying me through everything. Sometimes, I forget to do that. Might also go for cycling :D
<3
@Phoenixthepoised thank you phoenix. i am glad you liked it. It is true that we all deserve a gentle, honest connection with our bodies, regardless of our past experiences. Your insight about its universal benefit is spot on. Did you try this activity? Do share your experiences or any insight you can add more
@ASilentObserver Thank you so much for your kind words! It’s so crucial to nurture a gentle and honest connection with our bodies. I did try the activity and it was such a refreshing experience.
In fact, my relationship with my body has generally been healthy, though there was a time when I pushed it too hard like eating unhealthy, staying up late and ignoring the need to slow down. But as I got older, I’ve developed a better routine and made it a point to tune in more often and I make sure to slow down when I need to. It’s a constant balance but I’ve learned to appreciate and respect my body a lot more over time.
@ASilentObserver
such a beautiful idea, love it💜
definitely gonna write a letter to myself. might be a bit messy, but hey, that's life🌻
sending hugs to all of you💜
@Izila Awesome Izila. You will try, that is more important than it being messy. Please do not worry about "messy" – authenticity is beautiful. I am glad you embracing it, and sending big hugs right back. 💜🌻
@ASilentObserver
It's so weird because I've always had an interesting relationship with my body and haven't ever really appreciated it for what it does. I'm so so blessed to be completely able bodied and I know know to not take it for granted because I know others are yearning to be as fortunate as I am.
@Itmaybeebailey That is an insightful reflection, bailey. I can understand how it can have a complicated relationship with your body. Please know it is a journey, and that awareness is a powerful starting point for being kinder to your body. We believe in you and here to support you.
@ASilentObserver
Dear body,
thank you for your strength and resilience over the years. As even within all the abuse you with stood it all. Even when we was not nice to you, lashed out at you. It was not you we was angry hateful at but what was done to you that we felt betrayed by you. So it we know now was not your fault. Even way you reacted to things. As they was met to be used for other things. Mostly when we was all grown up. We see this now but did not then. We sorry for how many times we hurt you dear body. We do not hate you at all. We hate what was done to you as it was done to us. We still struggle with bad coping skills a lot of the time that harm you. But we working on them learning new ways to cope too.
Yes the pain you in 24/7 that we being in you. It frustrating a lot of the time. We know that to a reaction to the abuse. Your stuck in the fight or flight mode. That we get now also get there not much can be done for this. We get all the nerves within you body are firing all the time. That not your fault either. More we learn about things within you body the more we see you was abused and used for many years. We trying to rewire the way we think about you body too. But we on a healing journey this might take a very long time too. But we beginning to see truth about how you acted and why. It never was your fault but was them who hurt you fault. They hurt us through hurting you. The very deep part of who we be as we live within you.
Thank you for always helping take care of us too
@stormieandpaws Thank you for doing this exercise, Paws. This is a such a beautiful and courageous act of self-compassion. It is good t read that you are on a powerful healing journey. It takes I agree that the path to healing is rarely linear, and it is okay to have moments of struggle. Take your time and be patient and gentle with yourself, and continue to celebrate every step forward.
@ASilentObserver
thank you yes it hard to do the healing work. but all deserve to heal. the body deserves to heal too. we have came along ways in healing but have a long ways to come too. day by day baby step by baby step we move forward. yes at times we might take a step backwards but then we find our footing again and more forward. we ware worth it and deserve to heal. our body been through a lot and also deserve to heal. so being kind and loving to our body is need too.
@ASilentObserver
Hi Observer.. First I would like to thank you.
These initiatives for different series helps us introspect and build a better relationship with ourselves. These are really building blocks that we can use to step up to become better selves.
A letter to self with regards to binge eating.
I would like to share my personal experience here. I have been in the entrapment of binge eating in the past. Whenever I used to feel stressed I used to turn towards food. And it used to be junk food mostly. Stress eating made me gain tremendous amount of weight.
When I decided to come out of it, I decided to do it slowly step by step.
1. First, I replaced my stress eating food from junk to healthy one's like healthy snax.
2. Then I reduced the quantity of snax and introduced fruits.
3. After that I added vegetable juice at part of my diet ( it tastes horrible initially). This was my approach to reduce the added weight. Vegetable juice increased my metabolism. So whatever binge eating I was doing (snax and regular meals) was getting digested and was not getting stored as fat.
4. Then I slowly replaced my healthy snax with regular fruits intake during normal time.
By far, I had made a habit of fruit and vegetable juice intake. So whenever I used to feel stress my body used to ask for healthy snax instead of junk food.
5. Slowly and gradually my gained weight also got reduced due to my change of food habits.
Current scenario is that whenever I feel stress my body doesn't expect food. I can say that confidently as recently when I was feeling stressed I gulped food (Junk food, fruits and snax) but my stress did not releived.
So I am out of the trap of binge eating.
These all steps were of almost 1 year with each step being followed for more or less 3 months.
It takes sheer amount of commitment and dedication to follow and finish what we have started.
Yes, stress is still an issue which I am trying to progess as best as I can with help of 7cups.
I am thankful to good listeners and peer support of members that still help me in my difficult times. 😊😊
@FaithMonk9473 It is so insightful of you to share. I appreciate your tremendous effort and self-compassion in navigating a very challenging experience. Your step-by-step approach shows the power of gentle and consistent change.
@ASilentObserver this is a good idea for ED awareness week! :D
Well, I am pretty Positive about my body! :D But I do have a few Negative thoughts :(
1. I have a skin disorder called Keratosis Pilaris. It is a harmless skin disorder that leaves these dry, itchy, and random bumps on places like your shoulders, arms, legs, etc. It's super annoying, leaves my scratching my arms a lot, and it just makes me look like my skin is dry all the time.
2. I have a very weird thing where my face just goes red all the time. Like, in my class i'm kind of a quiet kid, so if I even do things with people, my face just goes red. I get made fun of a lot for it. Introvert vibes. :(
3. My Eyesight Sucks- My eyesight is really really bad. (Like how does a 14 year old have eyesight worse than her grandmothers...)
But, as we all know, we are all made for a reason, which means that the things we don't like about ourselves aren't gonna change. We must learn to embrace our differences and thongs. Although I have not yet, I'm trying. And you should at least try too. Love you guys. Byeee :D
@LunarTheTherian Thank you for sharing with us, Lunar. It takes courage to open up and share those experiences. I am sorry you are dealing with some frustrating things, and it is natural to have negative thoughts about them.
@ASilentObserver Thankyou for creating this post, you're doing an awesome job with this.
Letter to my body:
Dear Boon,
You have always felt like home to me, through the phases that you grew up and changed, which were sometimes painful and other times uncomfortable, on days when i hated your hair, or the way your nose was shaped, you took all that anger from me and never complained. I just want to tell you that all those stretch marks, wrinkles, pimples, scars and bruises, your skin tone and the chubby bits around your tummy, they are all my home, i love all of them, and nothing about you is ugly...no matter what anyone ever says to you, in my eyes you'll always be beautiful.
I know you have been stuck in a slumber for quite some time, but we can work together out of this. You don't need to climb the mountain in one go, today, just take one step, and slowly we can reach the peak. I love you, I respect you, I trust you cause you're awesome. 💗
@Boon4U Thank you fr sharing boon. That is such a beautiful and tender message. You have expressed so much love and understanding. Your thoughts are a lovely reminder that self-acceptance is a journey, not a destination. thank you for taking your steps to encourage yourself to take small steps and you created a safe space with your words to allow yourselfto be comfortable and gentle to yourself as you progress in your healing journey.