I am going to do the unthinkable. Are you ready? I'm going to give you three sets of numbers. Let's see what you can guess what they are.
145
162
114
8
4
14
40
20
30
These numbers, dear readers, are what every woman is judged by during the course her lifetime by the media, complete strangers and sadly sometimes by those closest to her very own heart.
Those numbers are my weight, my dress size and my age -- obviously at various checkpoints in my life.
Weight has always been something I've struggled with my whole life. Ironically, since I have become gluten free, I now weigh the least I have in my 40+ years of life without trying. I only mention this fact because I still have a wildly skewed body image of the awkward, pudgy, picked on teenager who was always one of the last two picked kids in gym class. Body image is such a delicate and odd thing.
Why is it that we are programmed to see the very worst in ourselves and have such a difficulty of letting go of the very worst parts of our lives? Why do we focus on such shallow things like size and shape when true inner beauty like kindness, compassion, patience and humility are what matters? And more importantly, how do I express these words in such a way that my daughter who now struggles with her own body image believe them?
This is the what haunts me today.
If you haven't already seen this Dove commercial, please take the time to watch it. It will really change the way you think. Pass the tissues, please ;-)
Those numbers are my weight, my dress size and my age -- obviously at various checkpoints in my life.
Weight has always been something I've struggled with my whole life. Ironically, since I have become gluten free, I now weigh the least I have in my 40+ years of life without trying. I only mention this fact because I still have a wildly skewed body image of the awkward, pudgy, picked on teenager who was always one of the last two picked kids in gym class. Body image is such a delicate and odd thing.
Why is it that we are programmed to see the very worst in ourselves and have such a difficulty of letting go of the very worst parts of our lives? Why do we focus on such shallow things like size and shape when true inner beauty like kindness, compassion, patience and humility are what matters? And more importantly, how do I express these words in such a way that my daughter who now struggles with her own body image believe them?
This is the what haunts me today.
If you haven't already seen this Dove commercial, please take the time to watch it. It will really change the way you think. Pass the tissues, please ;-)
Good post! Interesting...as I was reviewing my one thousand six hundred and twenty three photos that pulled a disappearing act, I was disheartened to see myself - as "fat" - in the photos. My ego took a nose dive, and it was all due to the perceived body image displayed in front of me.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of photos...interesting question you left on my blog. I'm going to be wading through the myriad of images from our NYC trip and narrowing them down - and will be posting a day-to-day trip review/report in the upcoming few weeks. We REALLY had an amazing trip - so I'll be offering some suggestions, tips, and advice on how we did it...along with the accompanying photos, of course! ;)