In high school I was always pretty active. I was a cheerleader and I went to the gym at least five days out of the week. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, just my everyday life. But I never felt completely happy. Sure, there were days that were awesome and days that weren’t, but overall I wasn’t happy with myself or my life. But when I got to college I thought I would have the freedom to do what I want; I took complete advantage of that. But one day it occurred to me that I wasn’t healthy or happy. I’ve recently started to diet and exercise and I’ve already noticed a difference in my body and attitude. What changed overall? The way I viewed myself.
Body image is a huge deal in our society. We live in a world where we see skinny models on the cover of every magazine or in every commercial. We aren’t taught to love ourselves and embrace who we are. We’ve been manipulated to think in order to be beautiful we have to be as skinny as a twig, or our hair has to be a certain way, or that we have to cake our faces in makeup. Because of this, girls all over the world have grown up to whole-heartedly believe they aren’t beautiful.
Even celebs get discouraged just like us. Rihanna once said, “You shouldn’t be pressured into trying to be thin by the fashion industry, because they only want models that are like human mannequins… But you have to remember that it’s not practical or possible for an everyday woman to look like that. Being size zero is a career in itself so we shouldn’t try and be like them. It’s not realistic and it’s not healthy.” Why do we let this happen? Why have we let the mainstream media determine how we view others or even ourselves? It’s time for us to put our foot down. I’m not saying you have to do exactly what I’m doing, but find something in your life that makes you happy. For me that happened to be working out and eating better.
No matter if you’re tall or short, skinny or not, you are perfect the way you are. If you want to make a change, then make a positive one. Instead of judging other people for doing certain things, lift them up. If you see someone putting in 100% effort at the gym, then tell them that they’re doing an amazing job and to keep up the good work. You never know how much of a difference you can make.