Learning to love my thighs.

I think being female means I am genetically predisposed to hate my things.  I don't think I have ever met a woman who said her thighs were the favorite part of her body, or ever said "I love my thighs!" When we hit puberty, our body prepares us to become a woman by giving us large hips (and coincidentally thighs) so we are ready for child-bearing.  As a person who has never once wanted to bear anything, I found my hips/thighs presumptuous and immediately detested them. 

My family laughs because when I was high school, I got tired of fighting my hips and the size of my ass, and decided if it was big enough, I might as well hang things on them and shake it. So I started bellydancing.  I soon grew to appreciate my rear end and realized it was just apart of who I am, and gave me character.  My family is about as white as you can get, but the Duval girls sure have booty. Not sure where it came from, but my entire family (regardless of shape and size) has it. At least I'm not alone!

But my thighs... I never, ever wore shorts until a few years ago. I didn't like how I felt in them, or how I looked in them, for that matter. I was self conscious when I sat down in them.  Then I moved to Arizona, and quickly realized that pants in the summertime were just not going to fly here.  While running and hiking, the difference between pants and shorts can literally be the difference in life and death, depending on the extremity of the heat, so I just needed to get over it.  So I gave in... bought shorts to not only hike in, but run in.

And then, this happened:

Photo courtesy of AZ Central

http://www.azcentral.com/news/20120521phoenix-weather-cool-down

The first time I wear little bitty shorts to run in, a reporter snags our picture, and BAM! Front page of AZ Central for the entire day.... are you freaking kidding me??? So funny.  And typical. 

But I realized something... I am 28 years old. It is what it is! If someone is out there judging what my thighs look like when I am running in 109 degrees, that is their problem and I feel bad for them.  I am out there doing something for myself and taking my health and athleticism into my own hands.  

When I moved to Arizona, I knew I was going to learn a lot about myself.  At the time, I didn't realize that self acceptance and overcoming body image issues was one of them, but I stand corrected. :)