“Embrace your body as it is, for it is a work of art, no matter the size.”
As a plus sized woman at an HBCU, hearing quotes like these always help me feel a little better about my appearance. I have always been on the larger size of my friends and family and sometimes it can be discouraging to feel confident, comfortable, and beautiful compared to others. When it comes to living a plus sized lifestyle, it’s fairly difficult to cope with so many different varying factors to live a healthy life and stay positive, but it’s so important to live your life for you and to not compare!
Eat healthy– I know it can be difficult to see your friends eating whatever they want and feel as if you have to starve yourself to fit into your size 12 jeans from junior year of high school. But I’m here to tell you that is not true! If you want pizza, go eat it! If you’ve been stressed and feel as if you deserve a sweet treat, go get that cookie from Crumbl. There is no need to compare your life to others, especially over food. Our bodies deserve to eat no matter the circumstance. There is no need to deprive yourself of nutrients because you feel that you don’t ‘need it’ because you ate too much the day or the meal before.
Working out- I can personally relate with the struggle of working out and trying to keep up with a normal routine to keep a healthy lifestyle. It’s always an endless cycle, at least for me. I make the decision to go to the gym, I put on my super cute gym clothes and sneakers, walk in the gym and my heart automatically drops. I see all of these beautiful women with fit bodies working out on their already perfect bodies and I feel so discouraged. But after years of off and on routines and trying different gyms, I came to the realization that going to the gym is only going to benefit you if in the long run if you go for the right reasons. Primarily, I only wanted to go to the gym to lose weight and be super skinny to get attention from guys. I realize now that this is the worst reason to go- to make other people happy. If you want to start going to the gym and working out for the betterment of yourself and to better your mental health, then begin your journey.
Comparing Yourself to others- This is something I still struggle with every day but I’ve come to realize that it’s normal. When walking around Hampton University’s campus, I see so many beautiful people all the time and it is so easy for me to just start to compare myself to what I see.
Why can’t my body look like that? Her skin is so clear, why do I still have so much acne? Her hair is so pretty, do I need a new hairstyle?
I need to nip that in the bud right now. If you don’t learn anything else from reading this, just know this. You are beautiful just the way you are right now. Changing anything about yourself to make yourself noticeable to others instead of feeling more confident in your skin is mentally unhealthy. You need to understand that you are made the way you are for a reason. You are the star of your world and you should never let anyone dim your light, especially not yourself.
Finding your place in the world as a plus sized woman can seem impossible at times. I get it! But without you here, the world would be a little less great. Keep your chin up, always be yourself, don’t let anyone change your mindset. If you know you’re beautiful, everyone will see your glow and say the same thing! Keep being you and live your life to the fullest!
Love,
Jasmine Brockington- A Plus Sized Girly