There’s a lot of talk on the web, currently, about the Photoshopping of celebrity and model images in media to make them appear thinner and more “perfect”. The media is being bashed for adjusting images for public view, and I get that. However, it seems like a constant tug of war where people need to express what they feel “perfection” is, or what their views of “acceptance” are. Whichever side they are taking, however, we still run into the issue of comparison. Comparing ourselves to others to either lift ourselves up, or put ourselves down, is something we’ve all likely been doing since we were children (sadly). I see it all on the web… thin bashing, fat bashing, fit bashing, skinny bashing… it’s all there. Why can’t we all just love ourselves without feeling the need to put down other body types?
Well, it’s a hard thing to do… I know! Ever since I was a kid I have seen these images in the media, and it also didn’t help that I got into comic books (where woman are drawn with exceptionally low body fat percentages, and huge boobs to boot). On top of that there was the attention that all of the pretty girls got, and the ridicule that I received being an overweight nerd. I spent my entire time growing up feeling physically inadequate, and never feeling as though I was beautiful. It also didn’t help that I had frizzy hair and acne, none of which you ever saw in the media. I fully admit that I started my fitness journey simply for the physical side of things. I wanted to be thin and beautiful. Well, by the age of 27 I surely got there (to be truthful, I’d been there my whole life but didn’t recognize it). The only problem was that I didn’t recognize that I had gotten there… still! My mind was so jumbled that I hadn’t seen the transformation I’d made, physically.
It’s true that these media images can affect our mindset. I watched this video today on YouTube…
While this video raises a lot of valid points, instead of complaining about these things happening, we really need to empower people to not be so affected by it. We need to learn to love ourselves. Learn to love all of the little imperfections that our bodies have. It took me years to be able to wrap my head around this concept, and I still have issues with it. I’m a generally confident gal now, but I still have my moments.
Over the past year I’ve been focusing on the areas where I’d gained weight due to the struggles I’ve had with my Hashimoto’s side effects and trying to get regulated to new doses of my thyroid meds (which, since a side effect is bouts of depression, it does prove interesting at times). We notice all of the negative stuff about ourselves and fail to see the beauty that we truly have. I’ve been working hard over the past few months to really love the body I’m in. Truth is… you are sexy. I never saw it in myself, but when someone tells me I’m sexy I think, “Well… heck yeah! Heck yeah I am!” It’s a hard thing to understand that someone could really like something about you that you’ve been disliking, but then you need to realize that it’s all in your head and that you are rockin’!
Of COURSE you are beautiful the way that you are! Any fitness regime you take on should be for your own health and wellness. It needs to be about living the best life possible. We need to stop trying to achieve images that the media shows us and start working toward the best versions of ourselves that we can be. I realize that I need to stop obsessing about the weight right now and focus on my health. Getting my body back under control from this autoimmune disease. My weight my fluctuate a bit during the process, and that’s ok, because I’m establishing habits that are going to help me live a more healthy and fulfilling life in the long run.
I know it may seem silly that someone in the fitness profession can have these realizations. You’d think they’d be ingrained in me by now. The fact of the matter is, however, that we are all human. We all have our insecurities and downfalls. We’ve all compared ourselves to others. We need to start seeing the beauty that we already have, and the perfection that we already are.
