“People always ask me, ‘You have so much confidence. Where does that come from?’ It came from me. One day I decided that I was beautiful, and so I carried out my life as if I was a beautiful girl. It doesn’t have anything to do with how the world perceives you. What matters is what you see.” –Gabrielle Sidibe
One of the things that many people struggle with, including myself, is how we, women, view our bodies. We look at commercials and see these beautiful women, with a great body, perfect make up, luscious hair and we start to compare ourselves to them. Body image is one of the biggest factors that will dictate someone’s life. You hear about a mom enforcing diets on their 10 year old daughter because they don’t want her to be fat in the future. That’s crazy! At that age girls are just entering puberty, one of the most difficult stages of their lives. When they hear these kinds of things at home, it drives them to turn to eating disorders, pills, and popular diets to reach that desired weight.
At an early age we are taught that the term “fat” is ugly.
We are taught that to be pretty, we need to be thin. We hear from others that we need to smile to look pretty or that we don’t look pretty when we smile. You can never win because you have people telling you to do one thing but then another tells you to do another. We associate terms with ugliness because society has told us that our bodies are not beautiful. In reality, beauty comes in all shapes and colors, in all sizes, in all weights, in thoughts and in personalities. We need to work on enforcing these truths and getting rid of the negative stigma surrounding being fat, not pretty enough, stretch lines, saggy boobs, acne, and so much that women have to deal with.
It’s hard to learn to love the body that you’re in but let me tell you, its worth learning how.
It will take its toll on you. If you need to go to counseling for it then do it. If loving yourself means taking an extra hour of sleep in the morning do it. If it means waking up earlier to get ready, then do it. If you want to wear those pair of jeans you think you look bomb in, then wear them. Beauty is what you think it is and what you make it to be. Be affirmative with yourself and give yourself compliments. Work to build yourself up, so that once you’re in a healthy state of mind, you can start building up other women. It’s a cycle we must break, but thankfully, circles are round, and like a pie or cake you can cut into it. We’ll never know what beauty really is, so why try and put a definition on it?