Here we go! That dreaded moment of entering the showers after a games class. Why did the school have to make me do this once a week? I really hated it! They could at least build separate shower cubicles and let us have some privacy instead of having to bear my naked body to all these girls each week!
I was a late developer and had zero confidence when it came to the weekly showers after games class. The thought of getting naked and walking into the showers so the girls could laugh at me for having no breasts yet was seriously scary stuff! Each week was more torture and after a few times of sniggers and comments like “Ironing Board Chest” that was it! I started to not shower after games class and lied to the teacher that I had showered.
Lying to her and staying sweaty under my clothes for the rest of the day was far less painful than dealing with the reality of this rubbish experience every week. It’s amazing how those cruel jibes can stay with you and how you can grow up not loving the skin you are in. I did just that! I would constantly wish I had bigger breasts, perky bum and beauty to go with it. It only took me until I was 37 years old to actually be awakened to the fact that I have always been beautiful, and that God created me just perfectly the way he wanted.
Many years down the line from my school years I connected with people I used to go to school with. Some of the girls with the bigger chests that I wished I had ended up with health issues, back pain and breast reductions to cope with the problems of having bigger breasts. So all along I had the perfect body. All along I had been given the body that I would grow to love and treasure.
The body that today I am thankful for being in great proportion and not having to deal with back issues, or surgery. Just a perfectly formed me that was always meant to be. The only thing missing from the equation at the time was my own acceptance of the body.
We can never find happiness outside ourselves, nor can we find it in comparing ourselves with others. How do you not know that the person you compare yourself with today, won’t be the person that suffers years from now?
Start to love the reflection that looks back at you in the mirror. You are EXACTLY how you are supposed to be so walk with your head held high and own and love the skin you are in.
Now I can move into the next stage of my life knowing that my chest will always be in one place and that comparing myself to people only results in me making my reality a miserable one.
So here’s to celebrating my body and shouting to the world, “Ironing Board Chest is The Best!” 🙂
Have a great day, and make this day your best one yet!
About the Author: Kate GARDNER is one of Your Monthly Mentors, a #1 International Best-Selling Author, Editor in Chief of The Missing Piece Magazine, and Publisher of the International Best-Selling Book Series The Missing Piece. As a coach, Kate helps business owners grow their platforms by teaching them how to publish, market and sell their books to international best-seller status. Kate has had the honor and pleasure of consulting TV personalities and award-winning Hollywood film directors. Read more…
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