Big legs

I have always had big legs, that is, the proportion of them to the rest of my body. I could blame it on my big hips – they are wide and need to be supported, or my genes, yes, my mother had big thighs too. But I put it down to the years as a child climbing hills and later cycling around Southern England. I grew up on a farm in the King Country and the hills were massive. I wasn’t a stay-at-home child, rather, I was outside helping my father on the farm and anywhere we went meant a trek up these massive hills. The steepest hills were in the cave paddock, named for the caves within it. Sometimes we would take a picnic down to the creek where we would boil the billy, fry up some sausages, and fish for trout or eels (unfortunately after the eels arrived, the trout diminished) before beginning the massive climb home. I was just a child; it was hard enough for me. It must have been very difficult for my mother who never walked far in those days.

When I started boarding school, people would compliment me on my figure. I was too young and naïve to appreciate a slim body in those days. And in my sixth form, where I took my studies at a predominantly boys’ school, I once again received plenty of compliments, especially about my legs. But that was about the last time for any of that.

After completing my nursing training, my boyfriend and I set off for our big trip abroad. We bought two pushbikes in London and cycled around the southern part of the country, averaging about 50km a day. It was a leisurely time, with us generally cycling in the mornings and exploring in the afternoons, with no fixed route on any given day.

At the end of this period, my legs and my whole body were once again trim. However, having developed strong muscles for the riding and earlier the hill climbing, and not using them, those legs soon started to spread. It didn’t help that I liked my sweets and anything else laden with sugar.

When I played netball some years ago and had to wear the short skirts, people would often make negative comments to my ex. ‘’Man your misses has big legs.’’ Paul didn’t like me being overweight, so I guess hearing someone else notice that, must have been difficult for him.

I was just thinking the other day about what emotional traumas I may still be carrying in my legs. The fact that my thighs are thick and heavy indicates to me that this may be the case. The thighs were often the target of any reprimand as a child, and being slapped there, hurt.

 My time as a massage therapist showed me that we all carry stuff in our bodies and I knew that no one has ever really worked on my legs in all the years I have been having massages. And so I was thankful with my healing the other day when the healer told me that she had to do a lot of work on my legs, that that was where the biggest blockages were. Remember, this was a zoom healing and she was viewing remotely so she was not physically looking at my legs. And coming just a day or two after I had had the thought about still carrying stuff in my legs, gelled with me.

I am now wondering if the size of them will decrease. So many times sore backs or shoulders heal, once we have released the trauma, so why not the legs. If we remove what the body is carrying in them, then there is no need for that protection.

So who knows, with the blockages cleared, I might attract more compliments from these pins of mine, one day in the future.