Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Marie Arendt
Categories
Self-help, personal development & practical advice

THIS IS BODY GRIEF

Jayne Mattingly

Making Peace with the Loss that Comes with Living in a Body

A path to making peace with your ever-changing body.

At one time or another, all of us have grieved our bodies as they once were. Getting older means we're no longer as quick or as strong as we used to be. A chronic illness or disability wrecks our plans and sense of self. Maybe no matter what strict diet we follow, we still fall short of society's forever-changing beauty standards. And so we blame our bodies for having betrayed uswhen this couldn't be farther from the truth. Yet this is Body Grief: the sense of loss and sorrow of living in a body that changes, often without our say. In This Is Body Grief, Jayne Mattingly offers a healing path through Body Grief so you can feel at home in the skin you're in. Having navigated Body Grief as both an eating disorder recovery coach and as a newly chronically ill and disabled person and advocate, Mattingly walks readers through the range of complex emotions that encompasses this experience with intimate understanding and compassion, starting with dismissal, shock, and anger. Ultimately, she shows your body has never been, is not, and will never be against you. Self-love begins when you learn to trust and work in tandem with your body as it is in this very moment. Although the journey through Body Grief may not be linear, This Is Body Grief shows it's possible to feel at peace with the skin you're in. Jayne Mattingly is a disability advocate and eating disorder recovery coach. She is the CEO of Recovery Love and Care, a global virtual eating disorder recovery coaching curriculum and training program. She is also the Founder of the non-for-profit The AND Initiative, which aims to provide inspiration, advocacy, resources, support, and the gifting mobility aids to those with chronic illness and physical disabilities. Jayne lives in South Carolina with her husband and pets.

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Book Published 2025-03-18 by Penguin Life

Comments

As a Black disabled woman, Body Grief is my daily story. Mattingly reminds us that 'without storytelling there is no healing,' validating why it is important to listen to the stories our bodies tell us. Read this book to heal in your own way. To be angry. To share. To accept. To celebrate and to love your body unconditionally amongst the continuous grief it brings.

We all need an opportunity to sit gently and thoughtfully with our grief. Consider this book your invitation.

In a world that teaches us to ignore, control, or conquer our bodies, Jayne Mattingly intervenes with a much-needed revision to the default framework. Through her own hard-earned wisdom and professional expertise, she offers us language and tools to mend the fractured relationships we've developed with our own bodies. She guides usgently, powerfully, and tangiblythrough the process of building a sturdy home within the only bodies we'll ever havea desperately needed map for every single one of us.

I laughed, I cried, and I related all while reading This Is Body Grief. Jayne beautifully articulates the universal feeling of Body Grief and explores it on both macro and micro levels. It is the perfect blend of informative and vulnerable.

Beautifully written and unapologetically honest, This Is Body Grief not only dismantles the false narrative that our bodies are against us, but offers a compassionate path through the messy landscape of grief turned inwards. This book is for anyone who's ever felt uncomfortable in their own skin and wants to reclaim their sense of self.