OH! Magazine - Australian Version January 2016 | Page 23

HOW TO FEEL PROUD
OF YOUR BODY

NARDIA
NORMAN

http://nardianorman.com

(Women’s Health)

Nardia Norman reminds you how to stop the inner
critic and be proud of your body.
sent out my weekly email to my
database the other day and I got
a ton of feedback from the ladies
thanking me for writing it so I thought I
would share with you here.

I

It was a ridiculously hot day here in
Sydney and we were all melting, so after
my training session, Mr Mike picked me
up and we headed straight for the beach.
I literally grabbed some beach wear prior
to training and didn’t get a chance to
look at what I had grabbed until I was
changing into them.
It turns out I had grabbed the swimwear
that I only normally wear in private – in
other words, they are my smaller pair.
Oh well, we were off to a more secluded
beach so I didnt think I’d run into
anyone I knew.
I was wrong!
We ran into a couple of friends (both
personal trainers) who proceeded to
slide their towels next to us.
Not only was I starting to freak out about
my swimwear choice, I also had the
added stress of knowing that I was in a
dire need of grooming! Yep, it turns out
I had neglected to do any kind of
personal grooming in a very very long
time!
Hairy little bear in too small swimwear, I
thought – so not cool!
Every single part of my brain went into
freak out mode, and immediately all I
wanted to do was start apologising for

myself. I wanted to point out all my
flaws and say sorry for the small bikini,
the extreme hairy-ness, and the extra
layer of fat that I’m carrying.
I wanted to justify why I was looking like
this, to tell them that I have been sick so
haven’t had a chance to groom, to tell
them that I had left my proper swimwear
at home and this ‘old, skimpy,
unmatching, too small’ bikini was a an
accident.
But I didn’t.
Because after a stern self talking to and
some self-reflection, apologising to them
for me being me would have been
completely disempowering.
To make an apology about the way I
looked would have taken me out of of a
place of body love and moved me
backwards to a place where my mind
had resided for way too long – focussing
on my flaws, the parts that aren’t ‘good
enough’ or ‘look good enough’, the place
where constant self-criticism was the
daily mantra.
Here’s the take home point: if you ever
apologise for being you or for looking a
certain way you then are essentially
telling the world that you are not good
enough as you are.
And that’s silly, because you are more
than good enough EXACTLY as you are.
There is NO need to say ‘oh Im sorry my
hair’s messy’, ‘oh I’m sorr