In the words of activist Adrienne Maree Brown, “Ultimately, love for the self is the deepest pleasure we deny ourselves. I work daily to be courageous enough to indulge in the purest pleasure of selflove.” Indulgencing in selflove, in loving our bodies—creaky, injured, aging, ill, currently just fine—is necessary for living as whole human beings. This is especially true for people whose bodies have been demonized and abused in our dominant culture—Black and Brown bodies, queer and trans bodies, handicapped or ill bodies.
Even those of us with young and healthy bodies, well, this is not a permanent condition. Even the privilege of white-bodiedness will end when those bodies are no longer young and healthy. To celebrate, to love, our bodies and all bodies with joy is a fundamental act of resistance in a culture that pretends to praise individuality but really rejects our uniqueness as well as our inherited traits. And so, sing out, dance, swing and sway, clap and stomp, caress and soothe, love yourselves as miraculous bodies, with tenderness and exuberance bespeaking joy in the living, as you remember, today, and every day, that you are loved, you are worthy, you are welcome, and you are needed. May you feel it so, and may it be so.
Here are some resources for understanding how joy in our bodies is an act of resistance and creative living.
https://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/the-disabledjoy-movement-wants-to-celebrate-happiness-too
https://www.thewhig.com/opinion/columnists/celebrating-aging-in-an-ageist-culture
Blessings, Rev. Rita