sitting up straight

This is me after my haircut today. Yes, I am obsessed with hair which is probably why lopping off of a good portion of it (just over 8 inches this time) is healthy for me and my sense of identity.

I have been trying to stand and sit straight for the past week. Not as easy as it sounds. My osteopath suggested that some of my shoulder issues might be more easily resolved if I took more care with my posture. Yes, I am a notorious sloucher. Part of it is because whenever I am cold, my whole body tries to curl up into itself. Another factor is that when I am tired, I just tend to sag all over the furniture I am sitting on. Nevertheless, I believe the major reason for slouching is that I don't like to thrust my shoulders back and chest out. My osteophath told me that breasts are something God gave us and we should not try to hide them. The same could probably be said in some way about how I view my long hair - I hide behind it in some way, trying to cover those things I am not quite comfortable with, like the imperfections in my face, or not wanting to draw attention to myself which is just another identity issue in reverse. Come to think of it, any change to someone's body usually rings loud alarm bells in their head! Somehow we have entangled our physicalness so closely with who we are that we tend to think the two are the same, but we are so much more than just a body.

Hiding our real self behind our body is just such a bad idea. Adam and Eve hid from God and it was evidence of a badly broken relationship as they decided not to take God at his word. Just over a year ago God convicted me of hiding my beauty and I suppose the lessons in that department of accepting and celebrating the person God made me to be are not quite finished as I fall into old habits sometimes and let myself lapse into the slouch of distrust. Putting myself into a correct posture of confident acceptance and trust of all that God has seen fit to put into my life and body is probably more important than I know. I have already seen my shoulder start to ache less and move more freely, my clothes seem to fit better for some reason, my attitude is more positive in general, and I think I look good everytime I look in a mirror!

Don't be ashamed! God made you exactly this way because he wanted it so. Celebrate God's excellent taste and incredible creativity and stand tall! Shoulders back, chest out, deep breath, and SMILE!

Comments

Shelley said…

gee matte I can't beleive someone else has said this. my thing isn't just coming to terms with hiding myself, but that i do it automatically. how do you get yourself to not slouch after years of slouching aka hiding?

1:11 PM

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outWORD by Matte Downey

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