I'm sure I'm not the only one who has had this moment: standing in front of the mirror desperately wishing I looked different. This is a fairly common moment for most women. We all have things about our bodies that we hate, things we perceive as flaws instead of appreciating it as our own beauty.
From the glossy pages of magazines to movies, to fashion runways, to advertisements, to popular blogs, there are thousands of media messages screaming at us every day telling us how we should look. There is very little diversity and representation in the media, and because of this so many women turn to their bodies with disgust believing that they are the problem.
Recommended for you
Girls learn to hate their bodies from a young age. We limit our idea of what is beautiful to the narrow mold of media standards that few women can fit. We think that if we could just lose (or gain) some weight, or if we could be just a little prettier, that we could finally be happy with ourselves. As a result, we spend our lives wishing we were different rather than appreciating who we are right now.
Society tells some women they are too fat and that they should lose weight, while on the other hand, women who are considered too thin are told to eat a cheeseburger and to put some meat on their bones. If you want to lose or gain weight, by all means you should go for it, but don't wait to love yourself until you've met your weight goal because life won't wait.
Dress the way you want to and be the person you want to be right now. Don't let your appearance shackle you and hold you back. When trying to improve yourself go beyond strictly focusing on changing the way your body looks. Focus on improving your strength and health, mentally as well as physically.
What it comes down to is no matter your weight, height, race, or ethnicity you deserve to feel beautiful and proud of your body. Diversity is part of what makes the world amazing. There is a kind of beauty in our flaws, they make us human, they make us different, and there is value in that. What we need to understand is that there is no one body type we should be glorifying above all others. It's time that we start celebrating all women, and treating our bodies with the respect they deserve.
This transformation won't happen overnight. It takes time to unlearn the toxic ideas and impossible beauty standards that we have been taught to aspire to since childhood. You are going to have days where you feel good about your body and days when you don't, and that's okay. Learning to love yourself is a process, it takes work, but you are worth the investment.
It's important to remember that there is no one true definition of beauty, and you have more important things to do with your time than try to conform yourself to fit impossible standards. You are beautiful, you are enough. Your body is the only one you have, there is no sense in spending your life hating it. You deserve better than that.
