After several athletic-related injuries to my body in the last year which I had never experienced before, I have a different relationship with my body now.

I do not wish to abuse it by overworking it to achieve some kind of “look.” And I do not wish to abuse it by not utilizing its capabilities to the best of my ability.

I do not wish to treat it like it’s a vehicle where I can go back and forth between the extremes of caring for it one minute and neglecting it, the next.

I do not wish to make my body the battleground of society’s unrealistic ideals or its imprudent psychologies.

It’s both unfortunate and lucky that it took particular and (hopefully) temporary imperfections and incapabilities of my body to recognize the importance of one’s relationship to the body, outside of the popular constructs society inflicts on it.

I am still recovering from these injuries. And while I sometimes I get frustrated by what my body cannot do (currently) or the physical pains I experience, I recognize too the importance of gratitude to the body, regardless of how yours might function, temporarily or permanently. The body does so much more than we can ever thank it for.

One of the consistent factors of having a healthy relationship with your body is being compassionate to it. Whether it’s compassion for it’s limitations or compassionate in the imperfect choices you sometimes make.

Still, compassion, above all, is the name of the game. And along with prudence, paying attention to the individual choices we can make, holding society accountable for its shortcomings, and the ultimate desire to achieve not an arbitrary standard for what one looks like, but an appreciation for the best version of ourselves in accordance with our imperfections, that will allow us to achieve a healthy relationship with our bodies.