Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Understanding Body Positivity


A million years ago, in 1999, I took a class in grad school on eating disorders. I was 34 years old. And for the first time, I was introduced to the idea that bodies come in all sizes and shapes. For the first time, someone I respected and trusted shared a revolutionary idea...

Fat is not a problem.

It's our culture and our socialization that makes fat a problem.

If you've read this blog, you know I come from a family of people with eating disorders. So to hear that I could learn to love and accept my body without having to change it was akin to a miracle. To see our teacher, Professor Ellyn Herb, modeling what she taught - that we and our future therapy clients could live without shame in our bodies, regardless of our weight was liberating. I wanted it.

This blog was one of the many tools I used to deepen my own growth and understanding of body positivity and self acceptance. Because when I started this journey, there just weren't very many people on the same path. And there were a LOT of people who thought this path was wrong, scary, dangerous, unhealthy, even disgusting. Writing the blog provided a space where I could share what I was learning.

Over the years, I've posted less and less. Probably because this was my tool for self understanding, as I grew more and more comfortable with myself, I needed to write less and less. But there is a world full of people out there who still suffer so deeply from the shame and stigma we learn to torture ourselves with if we think our bodies are not desirable (or even presentable).

So today, I was overjoyed to hear a podcast on body positivity that I want everyone to hear. So, I have created this post to share it with you. If you struggle with body shame, please listen. And even though I don't blog here much anymore, I do still LOVE supporting clients on the journey to radical self acceptance. So if you're in California and looking for a therapist, visit my website to see if we'd be a good fit: www.julielevin.com.

In the meantime, though, listen to this podcast on Body Positivity. You deserve to love yourself all the time, in whatever body you happen to have!