A girlfriend of mine was exercising with her workout-buddy. It was a beautiful day. Blue sky. Golden sun. Gorgeous breeze. They were jogging around a track, doing a few laps, warming up for some strength training.
While jogging, buddy (let’s call her “Miranda”) starts complaining about her body.
“Ugh, I’m so glad we’re working out today, because I really need to get moving. I feel like a fat cow. My stomach is just gross. I barely worked out last week at all! I was a total slug. I feel like my body is just disgusting…”
Miranda continues on like this—describing all the ways that she feels “hideous” and “disgusting.”
After a minute or so, my friend just can’t listen to this anymore.
She stops jogging. Looks Miranda right in the the eyes. And then—with a gentle, loving tone—she tells her:
“Okay. That’s ENOUGH.”
Miranda stops talking, mid-sentence.
My friend adds, “You’re one of the strongest people I know, mentally and physically. You’re gorgeous, inside and out. So…just stop with this.”
Sometimes, the most caring thing you can do for a friend is tell her:
“With all due respect, and with all the love in the world, please…shut the eff up.”
When you hear a friend speaking cruelly to herself—about her body or anything else—please don’t let it continue. Shut it down. Intervene. Interrupt with love.
Tell her, “You’re my friend, and it hurts me to hear you talking like this.”
Tell her, “You’re strong, powerful, and beautiful inside and out. I hope one day you’ll see yourself through my eyes.”
Most of all, give her a hug and tell her, “Honey…That’s enough.” Enough criticizing. Enough bullying. Enough with the cruel talk. We’re not doing that today. Or any day. We’re on a new level now. This is 2020 and body-shame is so 1982.
Say, “That’s enough” to a friend, or anyone else who needs to hear those words today. Including yourself.
PS. Good rule of thumb: If you wouldn’t say it to a friend…don’t say it to yourself.
PPS. The BARE Documentary has officially premiered and I am in LITERAL tears over here. If you missed it live, you can watch it anytime right here!
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