Hi. It's Laura.
I have been writing this particular entry in my head for the
last two weeks. Every time I start well
and my message is clear. I just have not been able to sit down long enough to
write it down.
Last summer I volunteered at a Biggest Loser Run/Walk. My first station was handing out the T-shirts
for participants during registration. It
was an amazing turn out of people of all shapes and sizes. My second station
was merchandise.
After the race everyone wanted a T-shirt or a hoody that
says that they participated in the race. I totally get that! Who doesn't want
to brag about their accomplishments (eh hum) anyway. I had a woman who wanted
the baby blue hoodie. All I had left in baby blue was a medium. The woman explained to me that she just lost
60lbs and this run/walk was her gift to herself. So we went through the table
of hoodies looking for one that would fit her.
Instead of baby blue we tried black in XL. She was swimming
in it as it was so big. Then she tried
the royal blue in L. She thought it fit perfectly. She still was looking at herself with the 60
extra pound eyes and she was wrong. It was way too big. I asked her to please try on the baby blue
medium. She refused claiming it would never fit her. I finally convinced her to just try it. I
felt like my mom trying to get me to try a new food.
When we (I had a little help from a friend of hers) finally
got her to try it on, I asked her to zip it up. It fit perfectly. She didn't believe me. Thanks to smart phones, I took her picture
and showed it to her. The look on her
face was priceless. Her tears were contagious.
It was amazing to see someone who worked so hard achieve their goals.
I have so much to say on this topic that I lose my point
once in a while please bear with me.
We all have parts of our bodies that we don't like which is
most evident when you start comparing yourself to someone else.
Personally I have given that up. It is bad habit that needs
to be broken like smoking and just as dangerous. The only opinion about you
that counts is yours. I know easier said than done but like exercise it’s
something you need to practice every day.
Giving up the habit of comparing yourself to others or
hating your own body is not easy. We are bombarded with "perfect"
images every day. Forget social media for now, that is a whole other beast.
Magazine covers, billboards & television are enough not to mention that fat-
shamers and bullies among us. Other people’s opinion of you are none of your
concern. Are you still looking through a magazine and wishing you could like
that? No pores, perfect skin, long flowing glossy hair. It’s all a lie. Every single picture in a magazine and
billboards, even movies, are photo -shopped.
Yes you too can be perfect with photo shop. There are enough photo shop
GIF's out there.
To help convince you here is one of my favorites:
and one other:
As for TV, it too is an illusion. Makeup artists, hair
extensions and spanks lend themselves to the perfection illusion.
Try to look at yourself as a whole person, not a body part.
If you are comparing yourself to anyone else, stop it! You cannot be anyone else,
EVER. Back in 2002, I was dying to get
my boobs done. Seriously! I did all the research online. I found out it
was actual surgery and that it was expensive. I read all of the things that
could go wrong simultaneously convincing myself, through celebrity photos, it
was the right thing to do. I desperately
wanted bigger boobs. But why? I got
plenty of attention looking the way I did. There was a woman where I trained
who had fake boobs. She was cute and
bubbly and not in saccharine way. I saw all of the attention she got just
because of her boobs. I ultimately
decided that is not the kind of attention that I want for myself. She was a smart girl too but no one would ever
know that because they couldn't get passed the boobs.
I have not wanted to surgically enhance any part of my body
since. I have come to the realizations
that I will never be 6', have thick hair or have big boobs. I don't need to be 6', none of my clothes
would fit. My hair is just fine. And as far as boobs go, I love the ones that I
have. I am happy now that I never got it done.
I don't need to be anyone else.
I am strong, ambitious, athletic, nurturing, beautiful,
smart, sassy full of energy and I love my life, my friends and my family. And
they love me (most days anyway).
I continue to make discoveries about myself every day. I am not perfect, I have my flaws, and we all
do. I refuse though to eliminate whole food groups from my diet in order to be
some else's definition of thin or to run a marathon because that is somebody
else's definition of physical success. I run my own race, define my own success
because no one else has traveled my journey, has my genes or embraces my same
values.
Recent campaigns by both Dove Soap and The Today Show have
tried to show women embracing themselves just as they are: beautiful. Stripping them down to their underwear no
matter their physical size and showing the world that every woman is to be
embraced, not just the slender unrealistic models & celebrities that are
glorified in media.
You are a beautiful person. Celebrate you! Don't hate you.
You only get one of yourself. It would be shame to go through life not liking
how you look or wishing that you were someone else or had some else's body
part.
Laura
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