I had this really weird epiphany yesterday when I was leaving a workout class, and it's always

really hard. It's a combination of high intensity cardio and strength training. And the strength

training is usually what really fucks me, right? Because that's all in the mind. And historically,

whenever I'm going through that class, I either feel too weak or really

empowered by how strong I'm being, but it's never just complacent.

And that's fine, and I know that my personality is such that I'm kind of extreme.

But yesterday, after the class, without needing any prompting or forcing myself to feel a

certain way or think a certain thing, I found myself whispering, thank you. And I was talking to my body.

And I stopped myself and I caught the thought and I heard myself saying, thanks for taking such

good care of me. And it was so curiously liberating, because I didn't

mean to think it. It sort of just came out. And for a minute, I felt so at peace with myself.

And so this week on Monocicle, I want to talk a little bit about the way that we talk to ourselves.

So let's start at the top. Why did I feel so liberated, right?

Historically speaking, I'm not someone with terrible body issues.

I mean, I'm a woman, and I would be hard-pressed to say that there is any woman who doesn't

have a hang-up in some direction about something on them.

Maybe it's her nose, maybe it's her eyebrows, maybe it's the way that her toes curl,

maybe it's as simple as her butts too big or her thighs are too small or I don't know,

whatever it is.

Historically speaking, I haven't really maintained terrible problems in that direction.

One time when I was young, probably around 13 or 14,

my brother told me that he was embarrassed about me because I was still so chubby and so I lost

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