Have you ever asked a group of women to name their favorite thing about themselves? Try it out as an experiment, and I bet you’ll find that most will respond by describing a character trait.

“My wit.”

“My laugh.”

“My confidence.”

Be so bold as to ask their favorite thing about their bodies and you will watch that aforementioned confidence quickly fade.

“My hair?”

“My eyes?” ending with an inflection as if they’re questioning their own answer.

(Note: If you have a friend who promptly responds with an actual body part… you know what I mean — legs, arms, butt (gasp)— keep that girl close because that’s the kind of body positivity you need in your life. She is your unicorn.)

At some point you were taught that it’s okay to like certain parts of who you are: your responsibility, intellect, faithfulness or hospitality, but it’s not okay to like your body. There’s a whole industry built on a foundation of women wanting to change their bodies and you and I are buying into it.

But we can all link arms and call BS on that, you know? You can love your quiet spirit and also love your legs. Maybe you’re an extrovert and love your ability to make strangers feel like friends— awesome— you can love your nose and waist and butt (gasp) just the same.

What if you changed the narrative? What if you stopped detaching your body from the rest of who you are, stopped referring to your body as “it,” stopped considering your body a failure when it doesn’t measure up to the measurements you deem good? What if, instead, you spoke about your body as “me” and considered me lovely, bragged about your strong arms and the color of your eyes, talked about your body like you were something to cherish instead of something to change?

A legion of women linking arms can put a hefty crack in even the strongest foundation. Changing the narrative starts with you. Be someone’s unicorn.