Describing my self to me (and occasionally some other people).
I have been thinking lately about the sort of vocabulary I use to describe me to me.
First my body to myself: "trashed" "soggy" "ruined" by child birth. I would never dream of using this vocabulary to describe any of my lovely mummy friends, rather they are "softened" "ripened" or just "changed". Further I would be heart broken if my lovely daughter one day thought of her body in derogatory terms.
None of my friends describe me thus, and my lovely husband does not - this is something I do to myself! Perhaps with the aid of the fashion industry. Therefore I have resolved to change it, perhaps if I stop setting the anti-example then by the time my daughter has children we will be appreciating some softer forms of beauty in society.
Further this applies to my abilities, I sometimes say "I can't cook to save myself." or "I'm useless at maths." This is hypocrisy on my part as when people tell me they wish they were artistic like me, I point out that they could be; they ether didn't learn or didn't practice.
I'm not very good at maths because I didn't learn and didn't practice.
I'm not very good at cooking because I don't bother to do it well, because it just gets eaten and leaves a mess (I prefer to make things that last, like pottery).
It has occurred to me lately that I am constantly a living, breathing example to my children of how to live. More than anything I would like my children to be happy and achieve their goals. To this end I am now going to take the attitude that I can do anything I please, to a highly professional standard, and look fantastic while I do it! And I don't mean I'm going to start trying to look like a fashion model every day, just be happy as me.
I know that people can change long established bad habits just by choosing to, I quit smoking after 14 years when I found out I was pregnant. I have exactly the same motivation now, protect my children from second hand harm.
