According to the World Dictionary, acceptance is:

janet   1. The act of accepting or the state of being accepted or acceptable.

   2. The act of assenting or believing.

   Believing in ourselves is the hardest acceptance of all. Our entire lives consists ultimately of accepting ourselves as we are.

   My job as a fitness instructor involves not only helping people feel better about their bodies, but also helping them believe in themselves. To accept their bodies for the powerful beings that they are. Not an easy task for any of us.

   We are swarmed daily with beauty tips, skin tips, how to look younger, how to lose weight fast. The media envelops us and saturates our every cell with thoughts of inadequacy. We are surrounded by beautiful, glowing actors in TV, movies and print. Even though we know the models are airbrushed in those magazines, somehow we find ourselves standing in the checkout lane at the market, gazing dreamily at the thought of looking “just like them.” We get disgusted by the fact that we have tried to look like them and failed. Instead, we grab a giant Snickers bar on sale for a dollar and stuff our mouths with chocolatey goodness to drown out the feelings of failure.

   We forget about it for a while until we turn on our HD televisions, which demonstrate even more so how beautiful those creatures are. (Which makes me think of something very random … why did anyone invent the makeup mirror with high magnification? Seriously, I don’t know one woman who really enjoys seeing herself at such magnification. Should be outlawed!)

   Have you ever thought that “they” (the beautiful, glowing actors) could feel less than adequate? I’m positive there are times when they don’t believe in themselves. They are only human.

   Just recently I viewed some pictures of myself. Instantly I felt horrible. I hated my body in these pictures. I was feeling very proud of myself for an accomplishment that I had achieved, but the sight of these pictures ruined that for me … for about an hour. I sulked, but then I pulled myself out of the funk. I still don’t like the pictures, but I can’t let them rule my thoughts and feelings. Not once did I think about other pictures that I actually liked. Funny how that works.

   Sometimes we just have to accept ourselves for who we are. Every one of our imperfections and flaws make us perfect. I’ll bet most of us would say we don’t think twice about accepting others just as they are. Our biggest challenge will always be accepting ourselves.

JANET NEVILLS owns Ladies Fitness Zone in LaPorte,　where she teaches Jazzercise, Pilates and Yoga.　She is　also a Certified Personal Trainer.