IMAGE

I work part time for a Sports Products Distribution company. I work at the corporate center and included in the employment package is full access to the state of the art gym (right in the middle of the office building) and a personal trainer.

All around the the building and on all the correspondence is the word IMAGE!

IMAGE to our Customers!
IMAGE to our Vendors!
IMAGE to our employees!

Most of the men and women who work for this company go to the gym almost every day and also purchase and take the supplements that are distributed to customers (both individual, mom and pop shops and big businesses).

So it wasn't a surprise that I had a conversation with a woman who is 25 years old at the water fountain this afternoon about IMAGE!

This young woman is really pretty, a graduate from an esteemed university where she played softball. She has long blonde hair, gorgeous blue eyes and a cute body! Her personality is terrific too!

She was fixing a protein drink and shaking the container when I walked up to talk to her. She told me that she had been to the gym and was now having this protein drink. She then went on to talk about how she was upset that no matter what she did, she cannot loose the small woman pouch on her abdomen and the little bit of puff at the hips.

I almost laughed out loud until I realized how serious she was. I slowly began to tell her why we have these "pouches" and her response was, "well, not now! I want a flat stomach and no padded hips!" I felt so sad for her at that exact moment! I felt sad that she was so unhappy with her body and especially those parts that speak of womanhood!

And then I realized that this company is very much about IMAGE which is very different from HEALTH!

This young woman is very healthy. She has a great job, a boyfriend who works and cares for her and she is very cute by society standards and is so much fun to be around! And yet, she is very very unhappy with her body.

I can assure you that the personal trainer who happens to be a man is doing all he can to get that "belly" and those "padded hips" off this young lady so she can be more attractive, not more healthy!

Oh this personal trainer preaches "health"; writes emails about it; but when you go into the gym he is in my terms berating the people he is training. He is yelling about body image; he yells about not working hard enough which translates into "you are not good enough the way you are!"

Yes, I know that people are motivated by this, but omg....needless to say I am sticking to my daily walk outside and will not be joining this IMAGE of work out! I am sure he thinks all kinds of things when I walk by with my "baby belly" and "padded hips"! Of course maybe he doesn't notice since I am not in there wearing spandex and tank tops.

Anyway, I tried the best I could to plant a few seeds about loving our female body; I tried to point out calmly that being healthy and "being fit" don't always mean the same thing; I tried to be supportive and yet I could see she was in no way desiring to follow me on this journey.

But of course, I remember being a teen and young adult and hating my small breasts and my overbite and my thin hair, etc etc! I didn't have breast implants thank Goddess but I did do something about my overbite which really didn't make me a different person at all!

I have learned to embrace the body I have. I have learned to eat healthy not so I can get rid of anything or be pencil thin but because I love this body and I want to care for it as long as I am walking in the Garden!

I wish this young woman and others like her in the world would do the same!

Blessed be!