Legs
In case you couldn’t figure it out from the title, this post is, very simply, about legs. My legs, to be more specific. I know what you’re thinking. You couldn’t care less about my legs. And you are thinking how strange I am to dedicate a whole blog post to a particular body part. But I have a good reason. Well, several good reasons. Tonight, I got my first ever pair of basketball shorts! As I was admiring them in the mirror, it suddenly occurred to me how rarely I wear shorts. Even in elementary school, I always wore sweatpants for PE, and felt super shy sporting shorts (alliteration ftw). The first time I wore short shorts was when I left my own, longer shorts at home and had to borrow a classmate’s. Several people told me I looked good in shorts, which surprised me, because I didn’t really like my legs. Entering high school, I still never wore shorts. This was partly due to the fact that I get cold very easily and so would just default to wearing my uniform sweatpants all the time, but the main reason was because I didn’t like my knees. They were always too bruised from dance, especially freshman year, when I had to do a dance with knee spins and bowls on my head, but that’s a story for another time. And, I don’t know, my legs just didn’t look that good.
I found myself admiring all my other peers who had these really nice, long, tan, shiny-looking legs and wishing I had nice legs too. As a short person, I have come to acknowledge the fact that I will never be admired for great, long, model legs. And I realized that this insecurity about my legs is something I’ve carried on with me into college. Yes, I still check other girls’ legs out (don’t judge me) and heave an inward sigh, wishing my legs looked like theirs. I never realized how big an insecurity this is, but it’s true. I rarely show my legs or wear skirts/shorts above my knees. I just wear leggings all the time instead. But I ended up buying some dance club apparel this semester, a pair of short shorts and a pair of bball shorts. I picked them up tonight and realized, “What am I doing with these? I never wear shorts!” But then I tried them on and decided they were too cute to never wear…which means, I may actually be wearing shorts and showing more of my legs soon. Yes, I think this is something I need to push myself to do. It’s time to leg-go (hohoho) of this insecurity and embrace myself the way God made me, bruised dancer legs and all.
