Where Did You Get Your Body From?....I Got It From My Mama.....

Me and Mum AFTER our run

Mum came over for the weekend (awesome)....and this morning we went for a road run - its been so long since we have been able to do that together and I really miss it. It also got me thinking, as we talked about different things...

I started thinking about an article I read in the paper last week about how we get our "body image" self esteem from our mothers. Often as daughters the view we have of our bodies is the same as our mother's....a product of watching her and emulating her from the time we were old enough to notice. I have been, over the years, rather frustrated that I have inherited my mother's low self esteem. I have hated that I didn't choose it and I wish I just didn't care.

As I thought about that I thought about my own daughter, and how she is constantly learning things from me....lots of things I wish she wouldn't because I haven't got it all figured out yet. But I can't help it, because I am who I am, still learning and far from being perfect....as was my my mother when she raised me....not that she or I aren't amazing women - just not perfect ;).... We all pick up issues from our parents physical or otherwise, that's life, there is not one single person that doesn't....so we can't be mad because we do. Its what we do from that point that is our choice....and only ours.

There is so much that I have learnt from my mother in relation to my body that has been positive - she taught us from a young age what a healthy diet was (she was an aerobics instructor when we were kids) - something that I took for granted and thought that everyone knew. She has taught me that its more important to be fit and strong than to be skinny. She also taught me how to feel comfortable with the processes of my body - I may have been unhappy with how it looked, but she made sure I was never short on information (oh how I love information!) - puberty, sex, child birth, sickness etc. - she studied to be a nurse and wasn't afraid of detail or being frank. Our family often had very colourful dinner table converstations! She is now studying to be a naturopath and is a wealth of knowledge -and I love it - I am so blessed by the things she has taught me. Because of her positive influence, even after three kids, I am the fittest I have been in my life....and I can run!

Its now up to me to learn how to love my body 'just the way it is' and share that with my daughter, as well as all the priceless information that my mother shared with me.

Mum I love you.....I think you are an amazing woman - and I wouldn't be at all upset if I turned out just like you! xx