So I just got back from a two month Egypt hiatus and immediately on entering the country I was bombarded with comments about my body.

“Weshek mala.”

“You look healthy.”

“You look fit.”

To begin with it threw me off a little because I knew that I had gained weight. I’d been eating cakes and bread in Germany like it was nobody’s business, so I did not anticipate any postitive comments. But more so than that it was the first time I was hypercritically aware that somebody was commenting on my body as if it’s a public topic. My knee-jerk reaction was to want to shut the conversation down and state “that’s none of your business”. But in a culture such as Egypt that is perceived to be rude, so I swallowed their compliments and let it go. But of course this little exchange got me thinking about the relationship we share with our bodies and how much of it is shaped by public opinion. For many of us, especially living in the Middle East, our bodies are treated as public property, with fluctuating weight or anorexia issues being mentioned as if they’re the latest celebrity gossip. I can’t lie, I’ve been a perpetrator myself. I’ve often remarked about a friend’s weight loss or weight gain, when I thought the comment to be “positive”. But should other people’s bodies be up for discussion?

In the last year I’ve been obsessed with getting ripped. I’ve gone to the gym multiple times a week and attempted to follow the sets and reps that my little fitness obsessed brother recommended to me. I’ve tried to up my protein intake and go on a healthier diet. But for all of my effort nothing has shown. And that’s maybe the problem, we want something to show. For many of us our relationship with our bodies is more about what is seen than what is felt. We want to look a certain way, not feel a certain way.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve always had a rather positive relationship with my body, and maybe that’s where I will lose a lot of you. For me, the multitude of things that our bodies do for us has always been a source of wonder, more so than any cellulite or piece of belly fat can undo. And yet I am also guilty of mistreating my body . In my teens I have pumped it full with junk food. In my 20s I moved on to alcohol. I really only stopped when my body said that it was too much and I began to develop extreme IBS symptoms. And maybe that is the case for a lot of you. We really only say “stop” or pay attention to our bodies when something begins to malfunction.

But that’s not what bodies are for. Or at least, I’d like to hope that’s not what bodies are for.Bodies are made to be taken care of and so we must make it our priority to do so to the best of our abilities. Whenever I get too caught in my head in my somatic experiencing sessions, my teacher always invites me to go back into my body because the body doesn’t lie. The body is a catalogue of all of our experiences.The body is where we experience truth and so serves as a vital resource for many of us.

In general, I’ve found that bodies are a tough topic to talk about because every person has such a singular relationship with theirs. Some people hate it, some people love it, most people don’t know what to do with it. So maybe what is more important than to talk about bodies is to really feel them. Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Do you need rest or play? I guarantee you that whatever question you’re asking yourself the answer is somewhere within your body, it’s just up to you to listen.

Lovingly yours,

Girl With One Earring

Photo Credit: Seif Omar and Farida Fawzy