I’m tired of it.

I can’t even go to a Barnes & Noble or Target without escaping it. Can’t I just buy my peanut butter and bag of apples in peace?!

It seems like everywhere I go, those magazines titles are staring at me, headlines telling me how to lose 10 pounds in two weeks.

Do they know my story? Do they know that 10 pounds can make the difference between a healthy BMI and diving back into anorexia? Do they know that numbers trigger my mind, so eager to be the healthiest, fastest and dare I say, “perfect image,” that in reality I know does and never will exist?

I don’t think anyone would deny that there is some physical feature we wish we could change. ‘My cheeks are too pudgy.’ ‘Why does my stomach have that extra flub.’ And one that has crossed my mind before, ‘Are my thighs too big? If they were only a little more trim and toned, then I would look better. Why do they stay the same shape even when I run and bike and dance and just LIVE? Come on, bod! Get with my visual program!’

I think of myself as a confident woman, but each day is a battlefield where my eyes tempt my heart to see myself as different than beautiful. A voice inside me whispers, ‘You could do better. You could be stronger. Your body isn’t the best it could be.’

But today I look in the mirror and a different thought comes to my mind, and this thought anchored in Truth.

“Taylor, I created you. I know every hair on your head, every freckle on your face. Do you think that I, God, who am perfect, made a mistake?”

My creator made me exactly the shape that I am supposed to be. I was born with thighs that are meant to carry me long distances so that I may travel the world with a loaded backpack strapped to me. These thighs were meant to power me down a mountain side, sailing past gates and carving up the hill with force. These thighs were meant to push me through the water, propelling me through the ocean’s sloshing waves and returning me to sandy shores.

These thighs are a gift. They don’t need to change to be like magazine thin models or pixie skinny princesses. My thighs are beautiful. They are strong. They are built with purpose. They are my thunder thighs of strength and I adore them – every bit of skin and muscle and fat and cellulite.

Today I stand in front of the mirror and smile.

Take that, magazine. Take that, material world. Take that, eating disorder that once twisted my mind and fed me lies.

Today, I dare you to see your entire body as beautifully, wonderfully and fearfully made.

Thanks, God. I needed that.