My Favourite Things: 1 - Hips

It was a very, very lazy Friday morning. The blinds were open, the sunlight was shining through. I had no where to be for a few hours more. I woke up with a smile on my face and a sigh of happiness issuing from my lips. I stretched a little and looked over my shoulder at myself in the mirror.

I don't think I even saw my face. My eyes were immediately drawn to the second largest part of my body; my hips. I felt my smile grow as I put my hand on the mass, covered and accentuated by my comforter. If someone had been awake, I'd have said, "Look at these! They're the best!" like I usually do, but, as it was, I just moved my hand to make my shoulders look smaller, making my hips the largest part of my body for just a few moments.

My hips are the culmination of my favourite things about myself. They're big, they're curvy, they're the definition of a real woman. I take just about any opportunity I can to brag about them. Here, I'll even do it a little more right now.

You can't even try to tell me that those things are not the best. Those are baby birthing, man wooing, bump-the-car/pole/miscellaneous object-you're-walking-around hips. And they are the greatest. Literally.

One could say I'm a little obsessed. When I lie on my side in bed, I tend to just look at myself and run my hand up and down the mountainous beauty and the valley-waist, observing the difference and relishing the beauty of the line. And, if someone's in the room, I'll let them know how awesome my hips are. (Also, it's probably no coincidence that I've been called a hippie and a hipster.)

One could also say I'm a little bit haughty about it. One evening, a girl I wouldn't ever describe as being "curvalicious" was talking about babysitting. "I love having hips," she said, "Because I can just put the baby right here and do things with my other hand." She demonstrated the traditional mommy hold and I wondered if the baby could actually stay there effectively. Yeah, she's probably better at it than a man, but she ain't got nothing on me, I thought.

(More power to her for embracing her hips when she didn't have particularly amazing ones, really. I shouldn't scoff at all.)

I'm just going to let you know that it's really unlikely that you could have better hips than I have, but you can give it a try. Look at your hips. In all honesty, if you're closer to my aforementioned friend than you are to me, you still have awesome hips. If you can set a toddler on that hip and get a meal ready at the same time, you're a wonder woman (speaking of whom, look at that awesome example of hips!) and you shouldn't doubt yourself. If you're closer to me, embrace it! Flaunt those babies!

Finding qualities about ourselves that we love without a doubt is crucial to accepting ourselves as a whole. We were blessed with really great things! For me, they were my eyes, hands, and hips. It's different for everyone, so I have to encourage you to try to figure out what you really love about yourself. Look in the mirror and, just for a second, ignore everything you hate. What's left? (Hopefully, a lot.) Remember those things and take a chance to brag about them. For realz. Exuding confidence about a few things will start to bleed over into the things you're not so confident about and suddenly, you'll love yourself. Trust me.