Appreciate Your Body & The Magic Dress

Appreciate Your Body in 2023 & the Magic Dress

Hi everyone,

Happy New Year!  It seemed appropriate during this time of New Years resolutions to share a positive resolution that’s been on my mind lately. I hope it will give you a positive start to the new year too.

This year, rather than creating resolutions based on your dissatisfaction with your body (you know the kind, this year I’ll start that diet, go to the gym 7 days a week, create my perfect body and then I’ll be happy etc) how about creating a resolution that you will be content with your body as it is right now, and appreciate everything your body does for you.

This is a resolution that’s going to make you feel great from day one, right through to day 365!

 Are you one of the lucky people that has a body that can walk, talk and hug loved ones?  Does your body take you where you want to go and allow you to do the things you want to do each day?  Do you take all these abilities for granted and spend your time disliking your body and complaining about all the things you don’t like about your body?  Your body shape, size, wobbly arms, cellulite...and so the list goes on?

How does this negative thinking about your wonderful, functioning body make you feel?  Not great?  Then make a resolution to STOP criticising your body and start appreciating what it can do!

Read on to discover the surprising benefits of appreciating your body, instead of trying to change it and check out ‘The Magic Dress’ from CC Collections.

Two experiences have led me to begin appreciating my body and what it can do.  I hope my experiences help you too.

What I learned from Anorexia

As a teenager I suffered from anorexia nervosa and was very fortunate to survive to share this with you.  I have a naturally petite build but when I had anorexia was two stone lighter than I am now.  My body couldn’t function at this weight, my periods stopped and I would pass out in the middle of the road while biking home from school.  My brain wasn’t functioning properly either and my world shrank to the point where all I thought about all day every day was food and stopping myself eating it. 

I hated my body and myself.  It was a terrible way to live.  As the mental illness with the highest death rate, I feel very blessed to have survived it and to have had my mind healed so that after six months I was no longer trapped thinking this way and fully recovered.

That experience eventually led me to work as a Personal Style Consultant and Makeup Artist, helping other women to look great and feel confident so that no one else would suffer from hating their body and the way they looked like I had.

Serious illness leads to serious appreciation

A more recent experience has given me even more appreciation for what my body can do.  In mid 2011 I was struck down with a serious illness that left me with seizures, took away my health and fitness and left me so exhausted and weak that I couldn’t even grate a carrot or stand up in the shower.  Periodically, with no warning, my legs would stop functioning and I wouldn’t be able to walk for a week at a time. 

It got progressively worse for two and a half years until after much prayer the cause and solution were discovered.

 I’ve now been back to full health for just over a year.  Do you think I appreciate my body and what it can do a lot more now than I did before I got sick?  You bet I do! I even get excited that I can grate a carrot!

I no longer have to stop and think can I walk to that spot and still be able to walk back again?  I don’t have wait at the bottom of Halswell Quarry while everyone else climbs to the top and enjoys the view.

I learnt two wonderful things from experiencing this illness

1. First of all, we are not our bodies.  My body wasn’t working properly, but I was fine on the inside.  I learnt that I don’t need functioning legs to be happy.  I could still see, hear and talk with my loved ones and have fun.  I learnt that I can be perfectly happy, even with a body that’s not functioning properly.  I guess everyone learns that as they age, I just got to learn it in my 30’s and 40’s.
2. The other thing I learnt when I recovered was not to take what a healthy body can do for granted.  Sure my legs have varicose veins, but who cares when they can take me on a walk around the park, a bike ride with friends or climb up high to see a beautiful view.  I was ridiculously excited to help a family member shift recently because I was actually able to lift things and vacuum and be useful again.  It felt amazing!

The surprising benefits of appreciating your body, not trying to change it

I’ve always told my clients, you are perfect just the way you are.  If you don’t like how you look in a garment, it’s the garment’s fault.  The garment is the wrong shape or size, not you.

When women say to me “I’ll book a Personal Shopper after I lose weight”, I tell them don’t wait until you have the ‘perfect’ body.  What you’re saying is that you don’t deserve to treat yourself well until you change yourself.  You’re saying “I’m not worth it now.”  Value yourself now!  Appreciate your body now!

Interestingly, over the years I’ve had many people come back to me and say “The new clothes from my shopping trip don’t fit me anymore.”  Why? Because they felt so good in their new clothes that they started treating themselves better, leading to a happier, healthier lifestyle and the weight loss that had been eluding them for so long.

So this year make the resolution to start appreciating your wonderful body for all the amazing things it allows you to do every day.

 To help you get started feeling great about your body pop in to CC Collections and try what I affectionately call “The Magic Dress” City Collections Flared Panel Dress (Black and White 7455Y BLACWH) and (Aqua/ Black Tribal 7454Y AQBLTR).  I think every one of my clients that has tried this gorgeous dress on has ended up buying it (and I bought it too). It’s cut really well and is incredibly flattering, so treat yourself, twirl around in it and be grateful that you can.

 If you would like to start treating yourself well in 2023, learning from the experts so you can love the way you look, just email me at jgcosmetics@gmail.com or leave a message on (03)385 5485 with a couple of days/times that would suit you to talk and the best number to call you on. 

Happy New Year!

Joanna Giles (BA)

Personal Style Consultant

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