How to Have a Healthy Body Image | The Odyssey Online
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How to Have a Healthy Body Image

Be a Better Person Not A Better Pin Up

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How to Have a Healthy Body Image
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/568016571723765471/

The definition of beauty has changed so much from the early days up until today. In the 1950's many pinups featured medium sized women with coke bottle figures (wide shoulders, small waistline and slightly wider hips). Women that had these types of figures were highly esteemed and were considered to be the essence of beauty. Needless to say many women attempted to mimic these women's figures by taking bizarre measures. An extremely tight corset or girdle was placed below the breasts and tightened by elastic straps and worn underneath clothing to make the woman appear to have the same shape. Of course this "device" can cause injury if it was too tight (I don't think Elizabeth from Pirates of the Caribbean was exaggerating when she passed out from wearing an extremely tight one).

This went on for years until the 70's, 80's and 90's came along. Beautiful women at those times also had wide shoulders and small waistlines but choice of clothing became more lax and now body image instead of beauty became more prevalent.

Now beauty consists of having less wide shoulders, a larger waist, larger breasts and hips. Since this is the exact opposite of beauty in the past how can we as women please the masses? The answer, we won't please everyone and we shouldn't. The ideals of beauty will always change but you must not change along with them. We as women need to be satisfied with our body image contrary to what society wants us to feel about our body image.

If you want to go through multiple surgeries just to "prove" you are beautiful then you honestly are wasting your time. Everyone on the planet has a different ideal of beauty so no matter who you ask you will get a different response. How do you compete with that? You don't.

I've learned to be satisfied with my body image years ago and this is how I did it:

1. I stopped comparing myself to others. That was the beginning on my road to self acceptance.

2. I stopped buying into society's ideals of beauty and set my own standards. Many people are not aware that most women on the covers of magazines have been Photoshopped to appear to not have any body flaws. This happens way more often then you think. Remember "beauty and sex" sells.

3. Diets never worked for me. I just ate sensibly and exercised for myself not other people. In fact I lost weight just from walking 5 miles every other day at my local mall.

4. I never based my self value on what I look like.

5. I always found a way to work on my self esteem through enrichment activities that would make me a better person not a better pin up.

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