I stood on the sand, gazing out to sea,
I could feel the pull, something calling to me.
I knew it was the ocean, that beautiful body of blue,
My toes reached the water, and in that moment, I knew.

I wanted to be in the water, to be amongst the waves,
but something had to change, I had to alter how my mind behaves,
I thought about my body, about it’s softness and hair,
And in that moment I thought, why should I care?

My body want’s the water, the water couldn’t care less,
It didn’t care what I looked like, so why should I stress?
Why should I miss out on the sun and the sand,
The feeling of the water, the endless fun at hand?

The answer was, I shouldn’t, nothing should wait,
It had taken a long time to put these thoughts straight.

My body was me, but only partially,
I am my attitudes, my thoughts, my mind,
It’s taken me years, but finally I find…
That once I realised, I am worth more than my skin,
Now that is when happiness and acceptance can truly begin.

It was way up on Scotland, out on that beach,
That I accepted myself, a new level had been reached.

I took off my clothes and looked down at myself,
I couldn’t understand why for so long, I’d put my happiness on the shelf.

Why hide away when I have nothing to hide? Why cover up when I can stand up with pride? Yes I have hair and yes I have curves,
No one is hairless, yet it gets on people’s nerves.

If only we accepted ourselves, the world would be better,
Take note for yourself, before you type even a letter,
A comment of hate and often self-loathing,
Projected on someone else, it’s your mind you’re moulding.

The sooner you learn and start to accept,
The more you will change, including your mindset.
Because that’s all it is, a change in view,
It’s time to start living, living as you.

Poem written by me, Charlie Parker, September 2021, inspired by a beach walk and sea dip in Scotland late August.