There are a lot of lies our society tells us. The media, especially, targets women and the lie that they have to be six foot two and weigh one hundred pounds to be someone. Every woman in America, every woman in the world, has felt the weight of this lie, looked into a mirror and saw ugly.
In her blog Beauty Redefined, Lexie Kite shared an interview with her friend about how she views herself due to the focus media puts women and their bodies. Lexie asked her friend "T" when the first time she felt self-conscious about her body was. "T" shared her story about how when she was seven her and her cousins were comparing themselves. Even though she was skinny, she was solid because she was active as a child. When her cousins struggled to lift her off the ground they couldn't believe how much she weighed. This experience greatly influenced the rest of "T's" childhood and even into her adulthood as she struggles with body image. She shared that when she realized she wasn't skinny enough she turned to food. Her mother also played a big role in how she viewed her body because she was always on a diet and talking negatively about her body.
How can people be so insensitive? And "T" isn't the only one with a story like this.
Before I go any further, why is it that we as girls feel the need to "fix" ourselves up? Why do we want to fit this "perfect" body type, when that body has been so distorted that it is impossible to really look that way?
I'll tell you why and so will Lexie. All the media sells us the "perfect" body image and we buy into it. We look at the magazines and watch the TV shows and even the billboards tell us that we aren't perfect. News flash: there is no perfect body!
Now, I am not telling you to stop exercising or to stop eating healthy. Trust me, I promote healthy eating! All I'm saying is don't let your body, your hair, don't let the mirror or society, define who you are.
"To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are." -Anonymous
You can't live up to your full potential if you don't stop hating who you are. So stop the negative self-talk. Yeah, that's right, I called you out on it. I do it too. You look in the mirror and think, "Wow, what a train-wreck." It stops here. I want none of that! The more you appreciate yourself now the better you'll take care of your body in the future.
A group of friends and I are reading a book called "The Truth about Guys" written by Chad Eastham (I know, it sounds pretty shallow, don't judge!). In his book Chad writes, "The perfect body is not what you see in the mirror; it's the one you are in. When you learn to love your body, it will love you back."
And that's coming from a guy! How cool is that?
Lexie advises us to "take up the lifelong fight against these lies, the time to start is now." I'm in! What about you?
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