Beautiful Bodies Part III (3)

I was going to title this "I am really really really ridiculously good-looking," but I thought it was a little too wordy (Can you tell I recently watched Zoolander?). Actually the title is what it is because I've already talked about this in my Beautiful Bodies Part II post, but I wanted to talk about it some more.






I'm still so amazed at how high my physical self-image gets once I'm preggers. It's like all my clothes magically look fantastic on me I don't even need to change 2-6 times before heading out the door anymore. As I look in my tall body-length mirror I can't help but stare at myself because of how good I look. I take a look at myself multiple times a day in that mirror, just to see if I'm still as hot as I was the last time I looked... and I ALWAYS am!! I mean what's up with this sudden surge of finding my bod so gorgeous I have to stare at it like some shiny new object I've recently acquired?

Most women (from what I can gather) do NOT feel this way when they're pregnant at all, so what's the matter with me? Are my pregnancy hormones messing with my eyesight doing a photoshop overload? Has my brain devised this illusion to stop me from changing wardrobes because it would exert too much energy that would be better used for baby forming? Did my husband give me too many appearance type compliments over the past 6+ years that they've somehow been adopted as my own thoughts via preggo-brain? Have my pre-natal vitamins been laced with something? ...

All joking aside, honestly this is what I've come to realize: I am the most grateful for my body when I'm pregnant. My self-image has been pretty healthy over the past some odd years, but when I'm pregnant it is truly when I appreciate my body the very most. I know not every woman can get this blessing of carrying a babe. Even though my pregnancies aren't a walk in the park and I do complain from time to time, deep down I am consumed with gratitude to have such a blessing growing in me. I learned long ago that gratitude and happiness are one in the same; You can never be truly grateful without being happy and you can never be truly happy without being grateful. Because of this happiness I gain from being in this blessed state, my inward joy can't help but spill towards my feelings on my outer body shell. There are no more blemishes, no more flaws, no more uglies; just pure beauty is seen.

(Bam!)

Seing yourself as beautiful, hot, gorgeous, or what have you really truly does start from within as a gratitude of one's body. You can pound pavement, lift those weights, get your hair did, do some crunches, nails manicured, make-up done to perfection, scream 'Zumba!' at the top of your lungs... but you'll never find yourself pretty until lunges of gratitude are put into your regular workout routine.

 

Heaven's slice is being barefoot and pregnant.