It's Bathing Suit Season...Let's Start Rocking the Self-Acceptance!
I was trapped in line at the
grocery store and reading the tabloid headlines. One read “Best
and Worst Beach Bodies.” This seems to be a theme they come back
to a lot. When they can't fabricate a story about somebody with two
weeks to live and no celebrities are having a salacious breakup,
beach bodies seems to be a go to story idea.
Of course there are pictures too
but the faces have a black bar over them, supposedly so you'll be
desperate to buy the magazine to see if your guesses were right. One
picture showed a curvy, nameless celebrity in a bikini. The caption
said “letting it all hang out” and she was in the “worst”
column.
Why does it have to be this way?
How come the woman with the “best” body can't be the one who is
actually comfortable in her own skin? Why can't we shift the
paradigm so that the woman (or dude) with the courage to accept
themselves, as they are, at that moment, is actually the one we
admire?
Most average people claim that
they're unhappy with the supposedly impossible standards of beauty.
So, if we're unhappy, let's do the idea more than just lip service.
There is no mystical, all-powerful “them” who dictates what we
should find appealing. If we want more comfort, more
“regular-looking” people in ads and on the fashion runways, let's
make it happen. We wouldn't let someone else dictate what we should
find attractive if we were dating. Why do we allow it in our movies
and out magazines?
Let's stop comparing bodies in the
tabloids and in real life. How many times have you seen someone in
some outfit and been judgmental? Instead of snickering about the
real life woman in the bathing suit how about high-fiving her? How
about saying “You go, girl”? How you think she looks, is
irrelevant. And women, although there are judgmental dudes out there,
we are way worse. Why would we do this to each other?
Recently, I looked at some pictures
of myself. For a lot of people, this is more torturous than root
canals and hypodermic needles. But I was smiling, happy, in the
zone, doing something I loved and I looked really happy. And dare I
say it, beautiful. Despite being overweight, despite any other
issues I might have, I wasn't unhappy with how I looked.
Do we agree to dis other people's
appearances because we can't mange to accept our own? Does it make
us feel somehow less insecure about our own issues? Bottom line, we
need to accept ourselves and everybody else too. Let's stop with the judgement and just enjoy the day at the beach (or wherever.)
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