Monday Musings: Is It Time For Plastic Surgery?

Recently, a plastic surgeon friend of mine casually offered to do liposuction on my arms. For free. Honestly? I’ve never seriously considered lipo before, but that single offer sent me into a spiral. You see, my arms have always been a huge insecurity of mine. They're the first place I gain fat and the last place it ever seems to leave. Even when I’m leaner everywhere else, my arms just…well, they stay the same. Flabby. Wide. I know it’s just genetics; I was simply built this way. I’ve accepted (and even celebrated) the way my body moves and shows up for me. I’m proud of my strength, my discipline, the way I can now lift and run and hit tennis balls like never before.

But let me be real for a second: it’s frustrating to show up for myself every single day—waking up at 5AM, lifting weights, eating consciously—and see barely any change in the one area that’s bothered me the most. I’m doing everything “right” and yet, my arms remain stubbornly stuck in the past. So yes, when someone offered me a shortcut, I can’t help but linger on the “what if.” What if it really is that easy? What if this is the one break I let myself take?

This whole experience has also made me wonder: can body positivity co-exist with plastic surgery? I’ve always believed in loving the body you’re in, in celebrating what it can do instead of punishing it for what it’s not. But maybe part of that love is also allowing yourself the choice to change what you can, if that change comes from a place of care rather than shame. How does one tell the difference, though?

Is it possible to be grateful for your body and still want to tweak it? To respect it and still want it to look a little different? I think… maybe, yes. No. I don’t know yet.

I’m still figuring it out. But I think asking the question is part of growing older and settling further into one’s self. For now, I’m going to keep working on myself at the gym and at the court. Then I’ll check in after, say, half a year to see if I’m getting closer to my goal of finally having toned arms. I might get that lipo. I might not. But I want to make that decision after having exhausted my other options. If I do decide to get it, it’s not something I will be ashamed about.