Friday, February 26, 2010

Reflection in the mirror

I've been doing a lot of thinking about me. Go figure from my blog :)

Anyway, I've been thinking about what our society (American Society) finds to be attractive & beautiful. I receive Shape & Fitness monthly as well as see Womens Health & Maxim & other assorted magazines in the store. The all feature thin women who look as though they have never really struggled with their weight. What about the women on the "thick" side? What about the women who do exercise & eat right but will never be skinny? Where are the women who have curves & hips & butts? Why is it the so much emphasis is placed on these thin women? Mind you, I am not a skinny hater. I am a girl who has some body image issues based on what our society deems to be sexy, beautiful & hot. In my mind, I am none of those things unless I am skinny, size 4, minimal body fat thin.

Every time I have set out to get skinny, my main reason for doing so is just so I would feel beautiful or sexy. To be desired. Never for the reason of getting healthy, well maybe partly. There are times when I would cry because I wanted it so badly but had such a vicious cycle of emotional coping that I would derail myself. It got me thinking recently that maybe I have set an unttainable goal and the stress of that unattainable goal sets me up for failure. Maybe I needed to rethink what my goals should be.

Knowing I will never be stick thin, I got to thinking that having a curvy, voluptuous body is more attainable. Why can't I change my goal to become healthy girl who is active & eats right? It's much more realistic for me. I'm pretty sure by eating right & exercising, there will be weight loss & I will achieve my newly desired goal. Knowing the way our American society is, "I" will never change how everyone else thinks, so I need to change mine. In the big scheme of things, my life is about me & I need to do what is best for me.

I'm pretty excited over my new mentally healthy outlook. I'm excited to see how things progress for me. I suppose I'm pretty excited over being me.

Happily,

Elizabeth

4 comments:

  1. I agree and just so you know I have been told by many men that that stick look is ok to look at but that its not what they really want.

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  2. I firmly believe that the idea of stick-thin as beautiful is manufactured by the media and reinforced by the shallow. I think there is much more variety in what people find attractive than what is portrayed. Personally, I don't like beefy guys, but that's what mainstream media says I should moon over. And, thankfully, my husband likes curvy!

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  3. I think you are gorgeous inside and out!

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  4. We were talking at work the other day and the topic of ass enlarging came up. Our secretary, who is curvy and loving it, tells us that she was watching the news and there was a special about women who inject their asses with silicon (the same stuff you use to chalk your bathroom tub) to get rounder bums. I think the moral of the story is you always want what you can't have. I love my curves because it makes me who I am. I wouldn't trade them for being assless any day.

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