Loving the skin I'm in...MY RECIPE for physical and spiritual fulfillment

Today I choose to be somewhat light-hearted and yet reflective in my dialogue, looking a bit more at the development of my personal 'body conscious' concepts.  Short in stature, small in body but quick on her feet, small fry, slimmas, shorty, scrawny, tiny, likkle miss, likkle body...various adjectives to describe one person, but they have all been used to describe me.

BACKGROUND

As a child, a large chunk of my life revolved around the efforts of 'Trying to get Kellee to grow a bit more'.  So the background to my sitcom is that my parents and other well-meaning adults had a regular habit of feeding me various tonics/supplements and foods (some I despise/or barely tolerate to this very day in the push to aid my growth.

To be fair, as an infant I did have a major health issue that warranted extended hospitalisation, scheduled surgery and a miraculous intervention followed by my body healing itself overtime.  So I guess these early occurrences compounded by my loss of appetite (hospital food can mess with anyone's eating habits) encouraged the need to help my growth along.

But from a child's eyes the main offenders my mum (still to this day) and her mum/my late grand-mum, who funny enough only grew to about 4ft 8inches (I'm 5ft 3 inches by the way), she felt the need to stretch me (literally pull my neck, hands etc), in this noble but futile quest.

HANNA-BARBERA/LOONEY TUNES MOMENTS

One direct example that stands out to this day combined my love of watching Hanna-Barbera/Looney Tunes cartoons and getting me to eat a specific vegetable.  So Kellee used to watch Popeye the Sailor, and my mum had to find creative ways in which to get more vitamin A and iron into my system, so who better to do so than Popeye.

Even though I wasn't a quarrelsome child, I refused to eat certain foods, but most of all I REFUSED TO EAT SPINACH. I HATED IT, HATED IT, HATED IT.  The thought of it, the smell of it, the taste of it, episodes of 'spinach, tears, cold food, sitting at dinner table until I fell asleep were a regular occurrence with that dreaded vegetable.  So one day I guess my mum was at her wits end she popped in a VHS tape of Popeye the Sailor (yup had it on tape too).

Since I had watched that tape a million times, I ably recited every line and action, not noticing the noxious substance being ushered onto my plate, but the smell of the accompanying chicken eventually reached me.  So as I ate around the spinach my mum said "Kellee, look at Popeye's muscles, see how strong he is, if you just eat up your spinach and you'll be big and strong just like him!"

Now by that time I was around 8 years old, so my reasoning and ability to stomach this nemesis had improved a bit, however the only way I could take it was with a glass of water.  No chewing, just swallowed whole.  This obviously took some time as trying to hold my nose, pour water into my mouth and swallow this thing wasn't an easy feat as it oftentimes came right back up.  But back to the episode, I looked at my mum following her statement and despite my attempt not to be rude I uttered the most obvious response "BUT MUMMY I DON'T WANT TO LOOK LIKE POPEYE, HE LOOKS FUNNY!!"

Mum's quick response of "BUT YOU WANT TO LOOK SCRAWNY LIKE OLIVE THOUGH!" almost threw me but I automatically replied "YUP." 'Cause in my mind she's a girl and I'm a girl, so why would I want to look like Popeye.  I however knew not to discuss the matter any further for my sake and just swallowed the spinach whole with my water, but like any parent who wants their child to eat, it was always a battle for my mum to get me to eat certain beneficial foods, one thing she did learn very early was that beating me to do so never worked, 'cause it would only result in puking and her cleaning up.

SOLUTIONS

So for me the best thing was to either find alternatives or incorporate creative ways of disguising these foods.  It didn't always work but we had better results.  Now when the teen years hit and I started to eat down the house mum wished I was a bit more picky.

THE WAY FORWARD

Now as an adult I do try to eat liver on occasion, spinach a lot more regularly and other foods I used to despise.  I'm still not fond of the spinach taste (can never join Popeye in that), but I don't have to do the water dance, I just eat it with the other vegetables.  My kids although not as picky as I was, do also have their 'ewwhhh' moments, so I have had and still have those eat your vegetables times, but I don't equate it to being sickly or scrawny or lack of physical growth, I just educate them accordingly regarding a healthy way of being.

For my teen who doesn't like tomatoes I educate about prostate health as he's old enough to understand the relevance, for my pre-teen who's the most picky, has allergies and loves sweets, I try to find alternatives and impart the value of balance.  For the youngest who is more of a 'rice and peas and chicken child' and feels he should eat as much as his teen brother, I guide him about the fun of trying different foods and the benefit of moderation.

We're all different and we all have various likes and dislikes, but I also inform them that since I'm not running 'Kel's cafe' the choices I provide they can eat or do without, 'cause I can't afford buffet menu style and they can't either (I did have to add some part of my mum into it).

I still do have health issues but I choose to not let them control or keep me down for too long, and I do my best in maintaining my healthy living habits.  I've often been asked 'Why do you exercise you don't need to lose weight, you can actually try harder to gain some?"  I often ignore the implied dig at my size and chose to educate stating that we can all be healthy no matter our size, but a few times I have had to matter-of-factly yet politely inform that "IF MRS. ORDENE KING COULDN'T GET ME TO GAIN MORE WEIGHT FOR THE 1ST 18 YEARS OF MY LIFE, I DON'T SEE HOW YOU TELLING ME THAT WILL HELP."

What's most important for me is a happy and healthy lifestyle and that extends beyond just the physical, it involves the spiritual and mental.  I've always been an active person and I also find solace in my faith, so by example I encourage my boys and everyone I interact with to take care of their mind, body and soul, regardless of background, race, physical makeup, religion or not.  For me I run, swim, do yoga, meditate and try my best to live a Christian life.

I know I am far from perfect and will never be as I have made and still make mistakes along the way, but I'm actively doing my best each and every day.  I've finally reached a stage in my life that I can be proud of how far I've come and where I'm going.  Physically I know I won't get any taller (maxed out in 3rd form), and I'm still working on putting on and keeping on the elusive 5 extra pounds (almost there), but I'm still happy being me.

So for all my family and friends near and far, whether short/tall, thick/slim, dark/fair...if you wish, please join me in developing YOUR OWN LIFE RECIPE for achieving and creating happier, healthier perspectives and behaviours towards ourselves and others, (don't forget the special ingredients of a dose of humility and a dash of assertiveness), we can enrich our bodies, lift our spirits and the spirits of others one day at a time.

It will not happen overnight and some days it may not work/you may just not feel up to it, that's fine we all have those days, but keep trying nonetheless, you never know when you may actually begin to truly love the skin you're in.

We are all bigger than our smallness