Day 8: Making Peace with your Genes

From November 4th-13th my blog is hosting the experiences of 10 different women through the BYU Women's Services and Resources Recapturing Beauty campaign. Go here or here to read more about the 10-day challenge.

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Day 8 is written by my roommate Sydney Wise! Sydney was in my ward freshman year, and we got close because of Women's Chorus. This year we decided to live together, and it was a great decision! Sydney is a junior from Caldwell, ID studying public health here at BYU. She has 4 sisters, loves all kinds of music and dance, and does the best Miranda Sings impression I've ever seen.

When I first read through each of the 10 challenges, this one totally jumped out at me.  Here's why... I'm a Carr, and I suffer from the Carr curse.  Starting with my great-grandma Isabel, all of the women in my family have rather shapely, solid, and large buns and thighs, which we affectionately call the "Carr Legs".  Each of my four sisters, my cousins, my aunts, and my grandma all have these legs and there's really no avoiding it.

Here's the problem: my legs bother me.  I hate that when I buy pants, I have to buy them large enough to fit my thighs and butt (which makes them way to big in the waist).  I hate that I feel self-conscious in skinny jeans and leggings.  And I hate that most dancers have beautifully straight legs for nice lines, but mine are curvy.  

So for me today was all about making peace with my Carr legs.  Here's what my goals were for today:

Don't compare my legs with others

Don't put myself down when I looked in the mirror

Wear my skinny jeans 

Walk confidently

Do a leg workout

Today's challenge was not an easy task. I didn't just suddenly feel great about myself and my legs; I totally understand that it's hard to just "accept" physical attributes that you don't particularly like. But today I learned that making peace means shifting my focus. I know that I will never have stick skinny legs...I'm just not built that way and its ok. Peace for me came when I stopped obsessing over something that I don't have.

Part of the challenge was to research the history your particular trait, so I called my mom and asked her to tell me about my Great Grandma Isabel (Izzy), the lady who's legs I inherited.  She was more than happy to provide many stories. Grandma was a rockstar of a woman! She was very adventurous and loved hiking, snowmobiling, water skiing, and camping.  She was doing all of these things well into her 70s! My great-grandma was seriously cool. Looking at her life made me realize that the things I remember about her have nothing to do with her size or legs.  I only remember a sweet lady who loved to have fun and loved her family.  She did amazing things with those legs and so can I!  Her legacy is one of adventure and love and that's something that I'm proud to be part of. 

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Tomorrow's Challenge: Making Peace with your Body

We want to hear about your experiences as well!
Tweet or Instagram with the hashtag #RecapturingBeauty about your journey over the next 10 days! You can follow @wsrbyu on Instagram and @byuwsr on Twitter, or me at @kylieinthesky on both. 

If you're also blogging about the Body Image Challenge, we want to see it! Add your post below and link back to this one so we can all share this experience together!