Love Handles by @MitchBenn
Today has been a nightmare for attention and focus. Can I blame weaverandom? Nope? OK, I'll blame homeopaths. And bring myself down from anxiety about it all with this video of Mitch Benn at the Latitude Festival:
I adore this song; have done since it premiered on the Now Show. Mitch has been very publicly working on his own weight and lost shit-tonnes over the last year (I can't be arsed digging out the numbers), but he's always been clear that it's for health not cosmetic reasons, and I think that makes this song excellent: there's a difference between good health and an unattainable worry-inducing ideal. Love yourself above all.
Lyrics:Every day we see them
In all the magazines
They don't look like anybody
We've ever really seen
They make us feel so ugly
But now it's time to stop
'Cause they don't look like that either
Without the aid of Photoshop,
So:
Love your love handles
Love your double chin
Hail your receding hairline
And all your saggy skin and
See your flaws and creases
In a whole new way
Starting today
Some people try their hardest
To make all of our lives Hell
'Cause they've all got moisturisers
And diet drinks to sell
Don't have to ask permission
To be heard or seen
Don't need to make excuses
For being a human being
So:
Love your love handles
Love your laughter lines
'Cause everyone's a middle
We're all the happy times
And love your puffy eyelids
And your wonky nose
So everyone knows
All of our imperfections,
All our asymmetry
They're an important part of
What makes us you and me
Who cares what someone looks like?
'Long as they have their health?
Be good to everybody
Starting with yourself,
'Cause
We're not all supermodels
We're not all movie stars
Most of us look exactly
Like what we really are
We feel like we're abnormal
But that's ridiculous
'Cause there's maybe a couple of hundred of them
And there's six and a half million of us
So:
Love your love handles
Love your crooked teeth
Cherish your wobbly tummy
And whatever lies beneath, now.
Love your fuzzy nipples
And your droopy chest
And all of the rest
Love your love handles
Love your dimply thighs
Flabby, plump or scrawny,
Whatever shape or size
You'll find you can be happy and comfortable in
Your own skin.
P.S. I know this is an easy message for me to get behind, with my body. Just listen to the song, OK?