I remember being seven years old and asking my mother, “Is my butt too big?”
Looking back, I’m furious at the notion that little kids are insecure about their bodies, I‘m furious that ideas of self-hate and you’re-not-pretty-unless-you-look-like-this are being internalized before most kids even know how to multiply. The Hate-Body Demon is a terrible monster and I don’t wish it upon anyone, especially those who should really be out rolling in dirt and digging up worms and dressing up dolls and imagining they are gnomes or fairies or kings or queens, or both. Instead, they are wasting time caught up in the desire to have a shape that doesn’t even fully exist; and what’s a better thing to imagine, being a mermaid and swimming with whales or being an billboard figure who causes others to question who they are?
I wish that, instead, kids were taught that they are absolute masterpieces. Hell, I wish we could all realize that because it’s true. The Science of Us is evolutionary ART; it was actually through my high-school biology class that I learned to love myself.
I began to realize that every minor action I make is the result of millions of cells working together and the complex processes they undergo daily. Every sound I hear and the very pitch of those sounds is the result of of certain hairs within my ears that trigger nerves that rattle my brain. My heart sends oxygen-rich blood throughout my body with every pulse- a pulse triggered by specialized cardiac muscle cells that signal the heart to contract. My body does this, and yours, too, and whether we think about it or not, it happens. Every cell is a piece of art- every microscopic inch of those that unite to form tissues, that in turn form organs, and soon complex organ systems that, finally, constitute our human bodies us, are the most natural and incredible pieces of art.
The sheer amount of beauty that constructs us is simply incalculable. We are tiny universes that inherit the earth, we are stars constantly expanding in our growth and wisdom and even if we explode, when we suffer and wonder if we are right or wrong, the consequence is experience, greater wisdom, and greater beauty; our outbursts result in magnificent and unique nebulae, and we are going to make even greater stars of ourselves.
How amazing are we? Far too great (yeah, YOU ARE GREAT) to spend our time hating our bodies, no matter what age. You are an incredible little world, an incredible stardust universe. You have always been this beautiful entity, all your life. And this isn’t your imagination.
