One of the best things that happened to me this month, so far, was going to the doctor. I know, right? When does going to the doctor ever really make anyone feel good? The whole situation is rife with unfortunate possibilities. You get poked and prodded in places you'd rather not. You might find out something is terribly wrong with you, or be faced with future appointments for uncomfortable procedures and tests that will tell you there is definitely something wrong with you. You engage in awkward conversations with a virtual stranger about your state of mind (if you have anxiety like me) and your sex life and your hormones and your possible plans for reproduction now that you're pushing your late 30s and....

And, you weigh in. Oh, the dreaded scale that inevitably produced a number that is at least 3 pounds higher than your scale at home. It's painful to watch. I feel the same kind of panicky avoidance of the doctor's office scale that I do about public speaking. That's saying something. Depending on my mood, tears may in fact spring to my eyes. My internal sense of peace (har har) spirals into a full-on self-esteem crash and burn. This time was no different.

You may be wondering about the upside I mentioned. Well, when I opened up to my rail-thin doc about my weight frustrations, her response really surprised me. I've tried a lot to lose weight over the past several months and still haven't seen much change. I expected her to acknowledge the issue and help me problem-solve. But, instead, she basically told me I'm fine how I am. I'm healthy, I exercise, I (mostly) eat right. My focus should be on maintaining and not gaining weight. She asked if I wanted to lose 5 pounds or what, and I was like, more like 20! She said my body most likely has a way it wants to be (hand motions to curves) and that I shouldn't even pay attention to what the scale says. And, do you know what? That conversation was totally liberating for me. I felt great.  Maybe because the words came from my doctor, I don't know. But, thinking about it, how often do we hear from anyone that we are good how we are? As a woman, shouldn't I always be trying to be thinner, prettier, younger looking? Shouldn't I be working to make my skin flawless and my hair shiny? I think the ladies at Lush in Seattle think so since a couple of them tried to sell me on anti-aging products while I was shopping for gifts the other day. I've made peace with my body...but my face. My FAAAAAAAAAAACE!

Heh. Whatever. I took the wonderful words from my doc to heart and promptly went home to bake and eat a bunch of Christmas treats. Power to the calorie! Delicious.