Body image seems to be an
unescapable topic after one has sacrificed a visible chunk to cancer. After
months (or years) of
breast cancer treatment, some bodies go through significant changes: hair grows
back different (well, hello
bald spots!), eyebrows are thin or nonexistent, there is weight gain or
weight loss (I’m a member of the chunkalicious group
right now), muscles and bones hurt, some immune systems never fully recover,
vision and teeth are affected, scars itch and hurt and seem to multiply when one
isn’t looking, some stop finding physical beauty in themselves, others feel
betrayed by their bodies.
The last one I can’t quite
understand. Your body is fighting a formidable disease and it’s still alive and
kicking! So, where’s the betrayal? On my really bad days (when I’m feeling particularly ill), I do
not resent my body. Instead, I show my body the most love. Not just because it
makes sense to me, but also because love and laughter and such... fill the body
with happy hormones.
So, when you are feeling like
your body doesn’t love you enough, give it extra love—laugh with friends, go
outside, exercise, have sex, do something pleasurable; love your body by giving
it what it needs, and your body will love you back in the shape of endorphins,
serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, will to live… Yep, love between body and self is
a circle that feeds itself.
flesh
and bones
always
love you,
if you
do
- for for Poets and Storytellers United--Writers’ Pantry #66: A Bat and a Haiku Walk into a Bar…
