Keeping Families Whole - To Young Women

I remember this talk well and when I realized that it was going to be addressed to the young women, I almost tuned out. I am really thankful I didn't. This came at a time when I needed to remember how important the "real" me was.

"The key to feeling [confident] is to always listen to your inner self—[the real you.]'. And in the kingdom of God, the real you is 'more precious than rubies.' Every young woman is a child of destiny and every adult woman a powerful force for good. I mention adult women because, sisters, you are our greatest examples and resource for these young women. And if you are obsessing over being a size 2, you won’t be very surprised when your daughter or the Mia Maid in your class does the same and makes herself physically ill trying to accomplish it. We should all be as fit as we can be—that’s good Word of Wisdom doctrine. That means eating right and exercising and helping our bodies function at their optimum strength. We could probably all do better in that regard. But I speak here of optimum health; there is no universal optimum size."

I am one of those people who fluctuate in size. And I'm also one of those people that hate it. I have found myself making unfair comparisons to others and it really makes me unhappy. When I heard these words, it helped me to see that these things are meant to be a distraction, a way to get me thinking about things that do not matter. Like Elder Holland said, we can all do a little better at living the Word of Wisdom, but obsessing over anything isn't going to give us the confidence we desire.