I scream, you scream, we all scream...at stupid commercials

I saw a commercial recently, from Cheerios, that ended with the tagline "More cheerios. Less you." To that I say, no thanks. I don't need less me. I don't define "me" exclusively by my body. I am trying to get to a point where I can fully feel like I am my body, and my body is me, but I am more than that. I don’t think this kind of message is helping me get there.

I wonder if these kinds of advertisements create (or emphasize) a divide between mind and body. Although it's easy for me to say that I am my body/my body is me, it's not always easy to understand for me. This kind of disconnect has been on my mind much more lately, since I recently joined a roller derby team. This is the first team sport I've ever done (outside of gym class, which really doesn’t count, since it’s forced group participation). Until I started training, I hadn't really felt my body as me. I can recognize this, intellectually, but I find that my disconnect really affects my skating. When I let go and trust that my body/myself knows what to do, I skate that much better and I feel the connection more.

All that said, I find that I automatically connect with my body during more individual sports (kayaking, rock climbing). I think it’s because that requires less thinking in regard to other people. In a team sport, you really have to pay attention to everything you do, because your actions could take someone else out. Whereas, in individual sports, you can only hurt yourself; it sounds foolhardy, but I’m not terribly concerned about hurting myself. I would say my motto is probably “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” I think that should be the quote for my tombstone. I trust myself to act & react as needed to not kill myself. I don’t necessarily trust that I can keep other people safe from me. But I'm working on that.