“I can’t wait to get my body back.”

We have complex relationships with our bodies. Women harbor certain expectations and assumptions about what our bodies are supposed to look like and what they are capable of. And it can be tough to come to terms with the reality when it doesn’t quite line up with what we had in mind.

I am making a conscious effort to pay attention to the language I use in reference to my postpartum body. To acknowledge what I am feeling about this new version of myself and be grateful about what my body CAN do.

In episode 49, Parijat Deshpande says, ‘You are the expert on your body—and you are not broken.’ Today, I’m exploring how we confront big questions around fertility and longevity, discussing the value of identifying our feelings as we deal with changing bodies through pregnancy, nursing, health complications and aging. Listen in for insight on reframing the way we think and talk about our bodies and acknowledging our complicated emotions.

The Startup Pregnant Podcast Episode #050

Some quotes from the episode

  • “There is a lot of expectation about how our bodies will perform and a lot of assumption about it, and biology can be a really cruel trick.”
  • “There seems to be this subtle expectation or this subtle psychology that my current body isn’t mine.”
  • “As we age, the relationship to our body changes.”
  • “We’re constantly and slowly and subtly being faced with a new body, a new set of cells and a new set of musculature, abilities and beliefs about who we are and what we can do and what we think we can do.”
  • “What is my body good at doing right now?”
  • “What am I grateful for about this body of mine?”
  • “Maybe the most important thing, I think, is to acknowledge that the emotions that you are feeling are valid, real and complex.”
  • “We can simultaneously be grateful for the things our bodies can do and frustrated at the … place we are with our bodies.”

THE STARTUP PREGNANT PODCAST & HOST