Does beauty come in a specific size? Is there some sort of unwritten rule that says if you weigh over a certain amount that you are no longer beautiful? Who decides what is beautiful? When we turn on the TV all we see are images of what people are telling us we should look like. Sometimes I wonder how much of our opinions on beauty are actually our own and how much of it is based on what others tell us to like and dislike.
As I log into my twitter page this morning and turn on the television I am constantly reminded as to why so many girls have low self esteem. My female friends are obsessed over losing a couple of pounds and constantly comparing themselves to the celebrities they see in magazines. I’m guilty of this as well. As I log into Facebook I see the images of what my male friends think are beautiful and come to a quick realization that I don’t look like those images and neither do most of my friends.
Our minds become consumed with the images of what we think we should look like and what others tell us is beautiful. Our trips to the gym are no longer about a desire to be healthy but a desire to be thin or at least thinner. It seems like loving yourself is no longer enough especially when the world is telling you that you shouldn’t because you are a size 16 and not a size 6.
This is a very personal topic to me. I have been in a battle with my weight and acceptance most of my life. I went on my first diet before I went through puberty and have been on and off them since. I was always an active child but for some reason was never as thin as my sisters and people had a way of always reminding me of that. I spent most of my childhood and early adulthood ashamed of who I was and ashamed of how I looked. There was this constant fear of being compared, judged, and scrutinized. Then one day a few years ago I took a look in the mirror and for the first time saw how beautiful I actually was. I had come into my own person and for the first time since I could remember I liked what I saw. No, I wasn’t perfect but who is?
At what point do we stop and realize that beauty comes in all different shapes and sizes? Some people no matter how hard they try will never be thin and they shouldn’t have to try and kill themselves to get that way. Many girls struggle with eating disorders before they reach high school. According to The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 10 out of every 100 young women suffer from an eating disorder. Don’t get me wrong. I believe that we should all practice a healthy diet and exercise but the goal should be to be healthy not to be thin. It’s ok to want to lose weight. However, our purpose for losing weight should be personal and our focus should be on being healthy. It should never get to the point where you are consumed with losing weight s to fit the beauty standard of someone else. We need to learn that not every woman is going to be shaped like Beyonce.
We as women need to learn to truly love ourselves no matter what size we are. We must stop letting the world tell us that we are not beautiful and that we need to change. I am proof that beauty does not come in a specific size.
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