Your Body Is Fine.

Before you read any further, please know that your body is fine.

Over the next few days and weeks, every weight loss scam and #fitspo influencer will try to tell you that you need to lose weight, or have a weird low calorie version of pie, or “earn” your turkey before you enjoy it. As profitable as this messaging is for the companies pushing it, it can be incredibly harmful to the people living in these flawed, imperfect, human bodies.

Repeat after me: your body is fine.

2020 has been the hardest year many of us have experienced, whether that means job loss or health struggles or isolation. This year has ripped us open and exposed our truest selves, and we’ve found comfort where we can. We are doing our best (and some days our best requires a little more sleep and half a loaf of banana bread and juuuuust one more episode of The Good Place). Your body is getting through all of it.

Your. Body. Is. Fine.

Of course it’s important to be healthy. Of course it’s important to exercise. Eat your veggies and move your body in ways that feel good. Sure. But please remember that it’s also important to live your life without punishing yourself, and that your mental health is every bit as important as your physical health.

Thanksgiving is a messy, complicated holiday, but at its core it’s a day of gratitude. So be grateful for this body that continues to wake up and try again, and let’s appreciate our bodies for all they allow us to do.

You’re surviving a pandemic in an impossibly difficult year. Your body is doing amazing work. Enjoy the mashed potatoes.