Body Image: Women, Food & God by Geneen Roth

Have any of you read this yet?

I am listening to the audiobook on my walk/runs in the morning when I can stand it. Sometimes I need music, but other times my mind is open to learning new things!

One of the themes of the book that has hit home with me has to do with body image. There is a quote that goes something like this: "Is there a time in your childhood that you can remember when you felt truly happy and free?" (Paraphrasing)

At the beach on Saturday, there was a little girl that personified for me my feeling when I was little. Even a little what I looked like, and about the same age.

Here is my moment:  I think I was 7 or 8, and it was just a couple of years before my parents got divorced.  I was a gymnast.  I was blond and tan and lithe.  We lived at the beach in Nantucket during the summer, and I used to dig sand ditches just like this little girl in the photo.  I had the energy to run and jump and somersault all over our backyard, or at the gym.  We used to put on talent shows in our front yard.  I remember feeling strong and just plain good.

It's funny, because that child was very different from other memories I have of my childhood of feeling isolated, shameful, etc.

But, in that year, that summer, I had a sense of myself that I think has been missing for many years.

I want that feeling back.  I'm going to keep listening, but I wanted to suggest this book to all of you.  It's providing me with some great insights.