Badassery Magazine Issue 7 December | Page 19

Get this: During a study conducted by Glamour Health, 97% of the women said they’d had at least one “I hate my body” moment that day. Luckily, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Imagine looking at your body with unconditional love instead of hate. Imagine having sex with the lights on without worrying about how you looked. What if spending more time in the nude could help you achieve just that? What if all we needed to do was abandon our clothing? Humor me. Stop treating your body like a stranger and do these seven liberating things when you’re naked. 1. EXAMINE IT Examining your body is vital, and not just for health reasons, like checking for moles or lumpy breast tissue. There’s a difference between examination and scrutiny. When you scrutinize something, you’re looking for something wrong. When you examine something, you’re trying to get to know it more intimately. Your partner(s) shouldn’t know your body more than you do. The reason they do is because they appreciate your beauty more than you do. Well, that, and the fact that looking at the back of your own neck is quite hard. But I’m sure if you looked at your legs, you’d discover a beauty mark you hadn’t yet noticed. ACTIONABLE STEP: Set the mood. This is a date, after all. Make sure your room is set to a comfortable temperature. Light candles, if you’re into that sort of thing. Do what you need to get comfortable. Now, strip down to nothing. Before going in front of the mirror, take baby steps. Look down and examine yourself this way. Try to find that beauty mark on your leg I mentioned earlier. Once you’ve conquered that step, step in front of the mirror and look at yourself. Yes, there are probably certain things you don’t like, but smile anyway. C