a couple fabulous twitter ladies and i were mildly discussing body image the other day and it made me think of an episode of one tree hill {my favorite show - ever. but that's not the point} where during a fashion show Brooke{who is a designer} has a model walk down the runway sporting a t-shirt saying "0 is not a size."
i think this is an very extremely important message to convey these days. as woman{and men} we struggle daily with our bodies. does my tummy stick out a little further today? are my thighs touching? does my face look fat? these are all questions that we ask ourselves and our friends more often than not. we are all guilty of striving for some form of perfection... whatever that form may be. but why? why can't we be happy in our bodies? why is it that every morning i wake up and think "i must workout. i must watch what i eat." we have to stop and ask ourselves why we all feel so compelled to reach a scary form of perfection...
it's hard. believe me, i know. i'm guilty of all of these things more than anyone... but i think we need to strive to be confident in our own skin. instead of being skinny we need to shoot for "healthy"... we need not starve ourselves, workout to the point of exhaustion, go on crazy crash diets, take far too many laxatives or diuretics... if we want a cookie, eat it. {just not 10 of them} if you don't feel like working out for a day or two, don't. {you will survive.}
yea, it's all much easier said than done, i know that all too well. but i think it's a goal we need to give ourselves... to just learn to accept our bodies, to love the curves, to embrace our strength, to want to be the healthiest{not the tiniest} and best version of ourselves. we need to smile more - because that's what really counts. smiling, health, happiness. not the size of jeans we wear.
body image issues are very serious.
10 million females and 1 million males suffer from an eating disorder.
80% of women aren't happy with their bodies.
for females 15-24, anorexia is the main cause of death; 12x greater than all cancers.
{source}
those are some scary statistics. any of the women{or men} you see on a daily basis could be suffering from a body image issue. so maybe instead of being so critical of ourselves and everyone else's bodies we should channel that energy into helping each other feel better about ourselves. to feel more confident in our own skin. smiles help. compliments are nice. both... are even better.
that's my challenge to you... try for just one day to not be so obsessive about the way you look. sincerely compliment someone else. focus on being healthy{mind and body}. not on being a size 0.
{source}
will you accept this challenge?
will you pass it on to urge others to stop obsessing at least for a day?
happy wednesday, lovelies.
love always.
I totally get what you are saying here. It's incredibly sad that women spend so much time, energy and risk their health to achieve a skewed view of "perfection". It's sad and I wish that more women could see how beautiful they were in the eyes of their Maker!
ReplyDeleteI do have to disagree with the "zero is not a size" thing. Because I often wear a size zero(not as much anymore!, but up until recently). I'm tiny. And I know that many girls are dying, literally to be that size. And I think that people don't realize that even thin girls have body issues! Just like comments about people being "fat" hurt, so do comments like "skinny-minny", "thin as a rail" and other things. I can't tell you how many times I've wished for some curves! Girls have issues with their bodies, no matter what size they are. So, when people say that size zero is not the size of a real woman, that discounts ME as a woman.
Thanks for the post, Jacqueline! It is a great challenge to stop obsessing over our bodies!