Sometimes I get so mad at girls. Not any girl in particular, just girls in general. I see pictures of scantily clad, disgustingly skinny women plastered all over pinterest on boards labeled things like "Motivation" or "Gym time" or "I wish." And it makes me really mad. The only thing that looking at these pictures is going to do for you is give you a complex. It only perpetuates the cycle of body issues and eating disorders and it IS NOT HEALTHY.
Why can't women focus on being healthy and feeling good instead of being as skinny as the girl in the magazine. I think that eating right and exercise is incredibly important, but for your HEALTH, not for how you look. Somethings that I have really been trying to stop doing are comparing my body to others, saying that i'm fat, or saying anything negative about any part of my body. Of course, I do these things from time to time because every girl born in the last hundred years probably does these things from time to time, but I'm trying.
I'm trying because I don't ever want my daughter(s) to see me do those things. The last person they need to see be critical of their body is their mother, especially when they face an onslaught of it everywhere else. Young girls are so impressionable. I can so vividly remember being a size 4 in high school and literally thinking it would be the worst thing in the world if I ever had to buy a pair of size 6 pants. I mean, I seriously thought my self-esteem might not be able to handle it if I ever had to buy a pair of size 6 pants.
I have since realized that you will always look better in clothes that actually fit you than if you are trying to squeeze into a size that is too small, just so that you don't have to go up a pants size. And guess what, the time eventually came that I had to buy a pair of size 6 pants, and it wasn't a big deal.
Later, I started focusing on eating right and exercising just to stay healthy, and I lost fifteen pounds without even noticing. I could again fit into all my smaller pants and I didn't even have to stare at pictures of women with six packs all day or stand in the mirror and ridicule my body or count every calorie that I put in my mouth or weigh myself twice a day. It didn't feel like I was losing weight at an agonizingly slow rate, as it does for so many people, because I wasn't paying attention to that. I was eating right and exercising because it made me feel good.
So get over it girls, just get over it. There are way more important things to be doing with your time than finding pictures of Victoria's Secret models and hating yourself for not looking like them, there are much more admirable habits that we need to be passing on to our daughters, and there are plenty decent guys out there that will love you whether or not you look like that girl on pinterest. You will never get there by putting yourself down constantly so stop it.
And that is my rant.
4 comments:
Oh man, I love this post. Jenae and I were just talking about this a couple of days ago. I was telling her how much I HATE that popular pin on Pinterest that says, "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels." What a horrible attitude and unhealthy way of thinking! Ps... I'm so jealous of you Miss-75-degree-girl.
THANK YOU for this post! I hate the stupid pins on pinterest about this! Like you said, it is not motivation. Just another image to put your self esteem down. I wish I could block those pins so I wouldn't even have to see them. I think about what my daughter will one day feel, see, and think. It makes me realize that I shouldn't even talk about my body much. It can't be a big deal either way. I just need to teach her about health for the sake of being healthy, not "health" so that she can be skinny.
Love!! Merci, beaucoup.
Love this post, Syd. I'm totally guilty of looking at those pins and feeling bad about myself. Fantastic reminder to make a change for the healthy and not the skinny. :)
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