BODILY AUTONOMY NOW AND FOREVER

Bodily autonomy is one issue you can stand on and stomp your foot.

Though don’t stomp too hard, you don’t want a strained calf or a torn achilles.

We can pack it on and take it off as our mood dictates, and no one can tell us any different.

However, if things seem to drift too far one direction or the other you’ll want to check that mood.

Our boy in the picture looks in the mood to polish off a big dinner, a few gallons of beer, with a half gallon of ice cream to settle it all down.

How many people do you know who could use a heads up, a wake up, a call to action?

More than you might think.

How many will take your concern as a personal attack?

More than you might think? Probably all of them.

No one wants to hear opinions on their appearance, even those who seem to need it.

When loving, caring, people look at you and say, “You’re wearing that?” they mean it with love and care.

When the same people look at you and ask, “When did you grow that gut?” they’re asking with love and care.

Remember: They’re not asking you to tear them down, to berate them on every scale, or to scream a new hole through their rude face.

Save the memory and use it when a stranger calls you fat in New Season’s while standing in front of the pastries.

“What? Did? You? Say?”

Before you go off on them, check your surroundings.

Remember videos of screaming people in otherwise normal places?

Don’t be that person.

 

Remember Who You Are

If someone calls you fat, go ahead and flex on them.

At least keep a flex picture handy to show what you look like under the layers of clothes.

Like the copy of the constitution you carry in your front pocket in case your rights get infringed on, whip out your flex shot for the fat accusation.

Then go get a haircut and a shave if you haven’t already.

Too many people want to believe they have no choice but to accept the ravages of time.

It’s hard when they’re not even old enough to know what a ravage is.

But they’re old enough to know when they’re being shit-talked to their face.

Breaking News: Your bodily autonomy is no one’s business but your own.

The fat man making fun of fat people is a problem to himself.

The homely guy calling others ugly? Same thing.

By now we all know the schtick: make fun of others before they can make fun of you.

We all know, right?

Everyone except the people who’ve never heard rude jackasses hiding behind their shitty little smokescreen of negativity.

Remember who you are when some stranger tries to define you based on their own poor personal image.

Don’t say you weren’t warned when you engage them and they start crying and make you feel like you started it.

 

Keeping Your Hopes And Dreams Alive

Staying in touch with your body takes many paths.

People join gyms and workout. They lift, run, bike.

They don’t expect the weird stuff:

 

You have boundaries; naked gym guy needs boundaries. 

Who sets the boundaries?

Two normal people join a gym: one of them works out and goes home, the other works out and showers at the gym.

Then it breaks down further.

Two people shower at the gym: sweaty guys and those who like to shower with sweaty guys.

It’s all in the same package, (excuse the pun.)

A current trend explains why so many people, like millennials, are uncomfortable in the gym locker room.

There’s good reasons why everyone feels a little, say, exposed.

Here’s how to figure it out and relax:

Ink:

Never look at a naked gym guy’s tattoo.

Chances are good it comes with a history, lots of history. Do you want to spend the next half hour listening to it? But, since you asked, you’re obligated to stand around while a naked guy maps it all out.

And they explain with lots of gestures swinging around. Take a step back.

One guy had his entire life tattooed all over after he got out of prison. Said he did it to balance things out, then went into detail about why he was in prison to begin with.

He even had media references to check. To check or not to check?

Look, you have a life. Do you really want to take the dark journey through tatty guy’s ups and downs if you don’t have to?

 

Be Sure To Have Back-Up

What’s the back-up plan when positive self-talk fails?

Start writing, buddy. Get on it.

There’s no better way to understand a problem than writing it down.

Here’s the problem; here’s a few solutions.

Pick one that works. If it doesn’t work, pick another one.

If you’re like me, bodily autonomy comes down to one thing: Do my clothes fit?

To keep a good fit without new food stains, do the basics.

PS: Put on a favorite outfit and take a look at yourself.

PSS: Wear it every time you feel like overeating and binge drinking like you’re the Lord or Lady at a Medieval Faire.

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