More Than A Body: Your Body Is an Instrument, Not an Ornament

by Lexie Kite

In a piece for NBC News, superstar musician Lizzo opened up about the complexities of self-compassion and acknowledging when you need help to feel that love. I don’t think that loving yourself is a choice. I think that it’s a decision that has to be made for survival; it was in my case. Loving myself was the result of answering two things: Do you want to live? ’Cause this is who you’re gonna be for the rest of your life. Or are you gonna just have a life of emptiness, self-hatred, and self-loathing? And I chose to live, so I had to accept myself . . . I want people first to understand that there are levels to loving yourself. To an extent, choosing not to hate yourself can be a choice, but, at a certain point, people can develop mental health issues from self-hatred, from bulimia or anorexia to depression. Sometimes, you need therapy to help you learn to love yourself. I know that therapy is some privileged sh**, and the fact that I’m financially able to afford it, and that I was also in a place where I could accept the fact that I needed it, is incredibly fortunate . . . Self-care is really rooted in self-preservation, just like self-love is rooted in honesty. We have to start being more honest with what we need, and what we deserve, and start serving that to ourselves.