We were taught to fear our bodies.
Taught to keep watch.
To stay alert.
To brace.
Fear that one cookie
would lead to the whole bag.
Fear that one more pound on our body
was the gateway to six hundred.
Fear that desire
meant danger.
Fear that being unwanted
meant worthlessness.
Taught to fear getting too big.
Too small.
Too soft.
Too loud.
Too visible.
Too invisible.
Fear when we changed.
Fear when we didn’t.
Fear when the breasts came.
Fear when they didn’t.
Fear when they fed a baby,
and didn’t bounce back.
Fear when they shrank
with time or surgery.
Taught to fear hormones shifting—
puberty, pregnancy, infertility,
perimenopause, post-menopause,
as if they were blaring sirens,
announcing doom.
Fear of becoming our mothers.
Fear of not becoming them.
Fear of diabetes.
Fear of diagnosis.
Fear of pain.
Of aging.
Of slowing.
Of stopping.
Fear that the body
is always on the edge of betrayal.
So we tightened.
Monitored.
Managed.
Punished.
Performed.
We called it discipline.
We called it health.
We called it being good.
But it was fear—
dressed up
in control.
What would it feel like
to not be afraid?
To move through your day
not scanning for danger
in your reflection?
To eat
without doing the math?
To soften
without shame?
What would it feel like
to belong to your body
like it was home?
Safe.
Held.
Trustworthy.
Tender.
Sacred.
Your body,
not a battlefield,
not a time bomb—
but a companion
on this human ride.
What would it feel like
to lay down the fear
and finally
rest
in your own skin?
~ Nina Manolson
Nina Manolson, MA, is the founder of Body-Peace®.She helps women end the war with food and body and finally feel truly at home in their body—as it is.
She is known for her deeply feminist, anti-diet, body-peace® approach. She brings her 30 years of experience as a therapist, Body-Trust® Guide and Psychology of Eating Teacher to helping women create a respectful and trusting relationship with their food and body.
Nina’s Body-Peace® work is all in service of helping people get off the diet roller-coaster, and into a compassionate and powerful way of eating & living which creates a positive long-lasting change in and with their bodies. Her courses, coaching, poems and Body-Peace APP positively change the conversation that women are having with their body.
Start your Body-Peace® journey with this free masterclass that will help you understand and shift your relationship with your body.
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