Thursday, June 18, 2015

The Bellybutton Challenge: WTF

As I was immersing myself in the going-ons of stories under the Google Health news tab, I stumbled upon the most recent internet "phenomenon" if you will called the Bellybutton Challenge.  Apparently it started in China last week and spread like an Asian wild fire across social media, along with the hashtag #bellybuttonchallenge.

Did you know about this?  I didn't know about this.

And I am very hip and current.

Except I will not embrace the return of the high-waisted shorts and slacks.  I just won't do it.

I mean...just because Kim Kardashian WEST is doing it is reason enough...let alone the ass it creates.

Sigh.  But back to business.

So the belly button challenge looks like this:
And according to a study from the US...which apparently cannot be located, and indicator of health for women is whether or not you can wrap your arm around your back, come around your waist, and touch your bellybutton.  I will wait.  Go ahead.  You know you want to try.  I will try it with you.

......

...........

GOOD GOD IN SWEET HEAVEN!  That was worse than I thought!  I can barely grab my side meat.  

Well shit.

I'm fat.

Be careful though.  Beijing Morning Post reported that a 24-year-old woman in Chongqing dislocated her shoulder from repeated attempts to reach her belly button.  

That's dedication.

I joke of course.  I mean, not about the fact that someone apparently really dislocated her shoulder trying to touch her damn belly button, but I joke about the overall stupidness of this.  But if you stop joking, it's actually kinda sad.

I have this vivid memory from college.  I was sitting in front of my entertainment stand watching a show about anorexia.  And I was journaling at the time (maybe that's why it's so vivid, I actually have the journal entry), and a girl was literally starving herself to death.  And I was jealous of her willpower.  And I thought to myself, "if I could be anorexic, at least I would die skinny."  AND IT ACTUALLY SEEMED LIKE OKAY LOGIC!  

We spend so much time comparing our bodies to the bodies of celebrities, neighbors, friends, enemies.  We spend so much time looking at the little "flaws" that we hate and spend so little time looking at the parts of us that are amazing.  We spend so much time on this quest to find the perfect diet or the perfect surgery or the perfect pill or powder that will finally...FINALLY...make us thin...that we cheat ourselves from enjoying the things are bodies WILL do for us.  

What if we just stopped hating our bodies.  

What if we just decided to love ourselves?  

Now I am not talking crazy talk here and saying that we shouldn't be doing things that actually MAKE us feel better.  

For example.  I can love my body but also love the fact that for nearly $12,000 I can have my boobs returned to their normal starting position.  

I can love my delts and traps yet work to love them EVEN MORE.

I can love myself but choose to have a surgery that may possibly grant me the push I needed to become HEALTHIER.

It's really hard to do this.  It's hard to focus on the positive and not ruminate in the negative.

This is what went down yesterday when I went into the restroom at work.  I would say that this conversation just happened inside my head, but I was actually talking out loud to myself.

Looking at my reflection in the mirror from the front: "Damn it.  I am so fucking sexy".  And then...as I turn around and look over my shoulder (I like to check out the caboose on the regular, but yesterday I was wearing light grey thin slacks and I KNOW I shouldn't look at my ass in light colored thin material) and I see my cellulite and I say "Ugh.  Fucking Cellulite".

I went from feeling so sexy to feeling disgusted.

I thought "Everyone is probably looking at my cellulite".

But just as quickly I decided "I'm going to pretend it's not there"...

I mean...what can you do about it?  Wear black slacks of course, but I mean right then and there in that moment I was stuck with what I was working with.

And I decided that even if someone WAS thinking I had a lot of cellulite in my ass, I wanted their next thought to be..."but she sure is rocking it".

lol

There are other examples of course.  When I am running I try to be thankful for a body, although slow and sometimes achy,  at least allows me to get out and propel myself in a forward motion.  

I might be a size 12 at the moment, but that's a long ways from the size 26/28 that I started at.

I might have stocky legs, but they are strong.

And that's how it goes.

We get to choose how we feel and how we frame our thoughts.

Simple right?

Happy Thursday.

If you dislocated your shoulder while reading this post, I do not take responsibility! 

9 comments:

  1. Ugh. This so resonates with me. I was at the gym tonight, red faced and panting, and I looked in the mirror as I was holding a plank and thought, "Ugh, look at my stomach hanging down." What I needed to be thinking was, "Look at me, holding a plank!" So yeah...I will work on that.

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  2. LOL!! I also had sick thoughts like that while watching anorexia movies in high school! The trick on cellulite is to only wear thicker material in light colors... Gap makes these great white pants that are perfect for that, and white jeans work, too (maybe too hot for FL though..).

    We all definitely need to love ourselves and appreciate how far we've come. As you said, that doesn't mean we should be complacent or stop trying to improve, but we should be kind to ourselves and gentle on the criticism! And NOT wear high waist pants!! OMG. Just .. No. :)

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  3. I saw this and thought how crazy it was! I decided a long time ago that hating my body took up too much of my thoughts and headspace so I just stopped. Thoughts still creep in now and again but I definitely don't dwell on it anymore!

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  4. Nope…totally your fault. I'm sending you my doc bill. In all seriousness though, you are absolutely right. THere comes a time where we just have to stop hating our bodies. I'm not there. I'm not even close but it's good to have goals.

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  5. I can't even get anywhere near my damn belly button so I'm calling BS on this "indicator of health". I do have a nice thigh gap, though, so I totally believe that is really important.

    I appreciate your thoughts about learning to like our bodies. I mostly like mine these days.

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  6. Hi Amy, I'm a new blogger (literally just published my first post and have little idea how to use this blogger gizmo, haha). I have my first consult with a bariatric surgeon next week and I've been reading through your blog slowly (yes, from the beginning) and love your sense of humor and positivity. Anyway, I just followed you and I'm just a baby blogger so I wanted to say HEY and thank you for sharing your journey with all of us.

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  7. I couldn't get my fingers past my back - not to mention no where near the front half of myself. Belly button, no where near my fingertips! Haha - and I don't care! I am so happy to be at a healthier weight. I am now dealing with some sagging skin in places I've never had before. I was laying in the pool yesterday looking at my skin sagging on my thighs and hips and like all of us, my first thought was, ugh - that's disgusting! Then I saw my stretch marks on my stomach and tops of my thighs and thought that I am TOUGH to have had a couple of perfect babies with this miracle of a body I have and that I have sagging skin because I've become healthier! I can cover it up with shorts. Smaller shorts!

    You're EXACTLY right, we need to be aware of our automatic responses to being negative about our bodies and our progress, and then consciously flip our thoughts to "at least I'm rockin' it!" like you said. I say we start a campaign - Let's get some sunkist orange t-shirts that say "Rockin' it!" HaHa! Or some orange stickers that we can put on our mirrors to remind us how to properly frame our thoughts as we're getting dressed. Actually, I'm writing it in lipstick on my bathroom mirror now!

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  8. I reached around the front and found my belly button just fine. Indicator of gullibility is more like it. Also, you're hot. You rock the body you've got, girl!

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