There are a lot of things I love about and myself but I, like most women, have always held insecurity and resentment around my body. Being complimented on my looks never lessened that insecurity, in fact it made me more conscious of my body and being perceived, making me more hung up on and focused on how I looked. I now work a decently physical job with a lot of incredible and powerful ladies, mostly in their 60s and 70s. They absolutely haul ass and put in hard labor but there are a few things that even make them hit their physical limits. I came into work and my coworker and immediately said “E! we need your muscles!” I carried some huge, heavy adirondack chairs across a large field while a grandmother looked on shouting “strong like ox!” and a bunch of little boys giggled that I had such a large chair on my back, like a gargantuan backpack. Being told I’m strong and feeling strong has healed my self-image in ways that being told I’m beautiful never could. It means a lot to me to hear how someone values my body for what it can do, not how it looks. What compliments or observations have you received that made you feel whole?