Body something for the new year

First, I hate New Year’s Resolutions, haven’t done them for years.

Second, I do like the practice of choosing a single word that will be a tool, a reflection, a prism through which to consider the coming year. I’ve done that more or less consistently for some years now, with wildly inconsistent follow-through on working with that word. My word for 2026 is “create”. Big one. But not what I’m writing about today.

Third, I had already decided on this topic and my subtitle above, really honestly, before I saw More to Hate's year-end post. So I guess there’s just something in the air. She says good things, thinking about bodies and how we as humans, and as a culture, think about and talk about and consume and share bodies in our world. My thoughts are more…well, me-centred, I guess. I have been trying to figure out how to live in the body I live in for many years now. The best I’ve been able to come up with are the following ideas/ principles/ gentle guidance, which I share just for fun and not to tell anyone else what to do.

• I will never, not ever, attempt to engage in deliberate weight loss again. Not. Ever. It has harmed me and I will not engage in that self-harm again.

• I’m finding it VERY difficult to forgive myself for the ways I hurt myself in the past. And I think I need to continue the effort to forgive myself. It is not an easy thing. And I don’t know if I’ll ever get there. But the gentle work of trying, of applying compassion to my self, is necessary work.

• I know there are concrete things that are helpful to my living in my body - ways of moving, of nourishing myself, of tending to all the physical and emotional and etc etc needs. But figuring out how to both support myself in DOING those things without awakening the old patterns of self-hatred is really, really quite hard.

• The helpful ways to support myself: gentleness to self, regular practices of meditation and self-compassion. Listening to my body AND my heart for what I actually need, what would be helpful and what I have capacity for, in THIS moment without comparison to any other moment, real or imagined.

• Things that are not helpful: setting “goals”, comparisons, social media, most things labelled “wellness”. (Wellness used to be a helpful word, but it’s not so much helpful in the algorithmic universe these days).

• Also not that helpful is the whole GLP-1 discourse. It’s been interesting to read different takes. But I mostly think I’m going to generally just not engage on that whole topic.

• Actually, any “discourse” about bodies in general, celebrities or not. Just not helpful! Feeds into all things comparison. Which does not move my journey in a helpful way, usually.

• Friendship. Unconditional, loving friendship and connection with people who get it or if they don’t “get it” they understand that what I need is to not talk about diets and weight loss and yada yada.

• Music. Everything movement is so much BETTER when I have music in my ears while I’m doing it. Seriously! It’s so good!

That’s it. Happy New Year to all, however you celebrate it and mark it.