Hello, friends! I’ve been missing you for the past few weeks while I’ve been hard at work on the fall patterns and haven’t had time to check in as much as usual. S has been visiting grandparents all month, and it’s amazing how productive a person (or, in our case, a couple) can be when given long blocks of time in which to work. Todd and I are both missing her terribly, but we’ve also really appreciated some time to be alone together. All the same, I can’t wait to go retrieve her and see my family later this week.
In the meantime, I’m just back from a fun trip to Nashville to teach my fit workshop at Anna Maria Horner’s Craft South, and it was a very inspiring weekend. I’ve told you before how much I love to teach that class and to spend time with so many wonderful women. New friends, lots of laughs and tears over shared stories and shared meals, plenty of time to sew and to learn new techniques, and a chance to learn the many ways to adjust patterns to fit your own body. I learn something new every time I teach. And it’s humbling how far some of you are willing to travel to attend these workshops!
Since women’s apparel and making clothes that fit have been so much on my mind lately (wait until you see what we’ve got in store for you this fall!), I thought maybe we could discuss our bodies today.
We all have things we don’t like about our bodies, don’t we? It’s easy to obsess over those parts and to really knock ourselves down, especially when we’re shopping for clothes and nothing fits. That’s certainly one of the reasons I love to sew for myself. I can adjust clothing to really fit my own body. And that’s why I love to teach fitting, too. It’s not actually all that hard to fit your body and needs once you understand the process a bit. And once you’ve learned to sew clothing that fits you, I think you’re less inclined to feel like there’s something wrong with your body and more likely to recognize that mass-produced clothing has its limitations in terms of fit.
I think it’s important to pay attention to what we tell ourselves about our bodies. Do you ever think, “I hate my ___”? If you do (and you may not even be aware that you do), I have a couple of short videos to share with you.
In this video, plus-sized model (if you can really call a six-foot, size 12 woman “plus sized”), Robyn Lawley addresses negative comments about her body with a very positive attitude that I think can be a good example for all of us. (The good part starts at about 40 seconds.)
What’s your internal dialogue about yourself and about your body? Since watching that video I’ve been paying closer attention to what I think and say to myself about my own body. By being aware of what I tell myself and what I’m thinking, it seems like it’s already making a difference in how I perceive my body.
Shortly after I watched that video I happened to read this article. Which got me to thinking, what if I changed my computer password to something positive about my body and how I feel about it? Do you think we can change the way we think and feel about ourselves by changing the words we type every day?
It’s important to note that appreciating and liking our bodies doesn’t mean we can’t also work to improve them. Once I start to really like and appreciate my body for what it is, what if I changed my password to something that would encourage me to improve the parts of my body that I could be working to improve? Even if it’s something small.
For example, a week or two ago, Todd and I started doing the Seven Minute Workout every morning. It really does take just seven minutes to get a pretty good little all-body workout. The first few days we were both a bit sore (“a bit” might be putting it mildly), but we’re already both starting to feel stronger and better during the day as a result of this small time investment. Which makes me think that maybe I’ll change my computer password to something that encourages me to keep doing those workouts all year long, just to help me stay motivated.
What do you think? Can we simultaneously appreciate our bodies for what they are while also working to improve them? And what do you tell yourself about your body?