Loving ourselves is the only constant worth striving for

Like the moon, we’re in a constant state of change. While everyone experiences the flows, it’s a woman’s perspective I’m bringing here from my own experience in accepting and loving changes in myself as life goes on.

I used to worry about my body and appearance and strive to keep it all at some unattainable standard, born of self-doubt rather than loving self-care.

Growing up idolising models in magazines (now replaced by influencers heavily filtered on social media) imprinted the belief that any bump, lump, stretch mark or blemish was less than perfect. Striving for unrealistic perfection stopped me loving and feeling confident in my body, and led to unhealthy eating and exercise regimes that did not honour its many seasons.

I passed on going to the beach with friends, wearing my favourite shorts or enjoying sex with my partners in a lit room all because I never felt ‘my body was quite there yet’.

It was a burden which took a lot of time, money and focus, and wasn’t attainable anyway. A lot of energy was squandered when it could have been used to create more of what truly supported my wellbeing and joy.

I’m sure it was all perfect in the scheme of things - but equally sure I could have done without it!

We change as much as the moon

In recent years the moon has taught me to really love the aliveness of change. As our feminine ruler in the skies (along with Venus), her waxing and waning shows us it’s natural to celebrate the changing ways we look and feel.

Every lunar month starts with a new moon, practically invisible as she takes insular time to restore and birth new seeds.

As the month continues the moon shows more brightly, culminating at the extroverted and active full moon. Then she retreats again towards a kind of death before it all begins anew, always bringing something different.

We can embrace this kind of approach as feels right, both on the more immediate monthly level and on the bigger scale of life’s phases.

The moon shifts zodiac signs every 2.5 days or so, reflecting all those energy patterns as the monthly cycle occurs, and there are also macro moon cycles that run every 29 years.

That perspective helps us honour the constant physical, emotional, mental and spiritual changes we undergo through life. The same way we’d never want to - or think it possible - to keep the moon from being who she is, we can do the same for ourselves and just be where we are, as we are.

As the cycles of change roll on, let’s remember that our body‘s ’imperfections’ are what makes it magical, and may the only constant be our love of self.