Since I've been talking alot about body image and eating disorders, I'd like to throw in another way that people try to fit in. Plastic surgery. Whether is lyposuction, a nose job, etc, plastic surgery is all over the place. But recently, plastic surgery in teens has been especially on the rise, from about 306,000 in 2000, to about 333,000 in 2005 (Kids Health). I'm sure the numbers are much higher now. The reason? Trying to fit in. Girls under the age of 18 are going under the knife daily to try to fit in with that image of "perfection." Now what I have to say to this, is WHAT ARE THEIR PARENTS THINKING!? I don't understand how any sane parent would allow their young daughter or son to do this to themselves. Some say, "It makes it where I don't have to become anorexic." Well, honestly, you dont need to become anorexic or have lyposuction. What you need is to learn to accept who you are, and build confidence in the person that you are. From a religious stand point, God made you who you are because that's the person that He wants you to be. Learning to accept that you are who you are is truly the only way that any teen can have a healthy relationship with him or her self, or anyone else. My mother has always told me that "To love someone else, you first have to love yourself." So really, in any relationship whether it be a friend or a partner, you have to love yourself so you can give love, because you can't give what you don't have. Instead of working to be what the media defines as perfect, why can't we each define what our own perfect is? My perfect me is exactly who I am... blonde hair, blue eyes, my skins not perfect but it doesn't bother me. I'm 5'9" and yes, I have curves because me and food have a great relationship. My perfect me is healthy, not starving, and not obese. Thats who I am. I love who I am, and I'm confident that this is who I want to be. I won't lie and say I always accepted who I am. I'm no exception to to the pressure of the media. Everytime I looked in the mirror, my thought pattern went something like this. "ugh what is going on with your skin? and did you gain weight again! you should not have had that ice cream last night! your teeth are getting yellow, your eyes are too gray, and you're to tall. Great. getting paler by the day... now you're completely translucent." It takes time and practice to be able to look in the mirror and say "you really are beautiful," instead of "wow i look disgusting." So my challenge for all you readers, is to practice pointing out the good things about yourself everytime you look in the mirror, whether its small or big. Sounds pretty easy so far right? Now here's the hard part. You can NOT think or say one bad thing about yourself when you look in that mirror. Instead, smile at yourself, and begin to realize that you truly are beautiful. Everyone is beautiful in their own ways, shapes, and forms. And overtime, you won't just be trying to convince yourself of your beauty, but you'll actually begin to see it, and feel it. You don't need plastic surgery to artificially change yourself, you don't need to starve yourself, or constantly be worrying about your so called flaws, you just need to practice loving your perfect self. The media doesn't know anything about what perfect is, like I said, they're just trying to save money on fabric ;)
Sunday, December 12, 2010
the perfect you
Since I've been talking alot about body image and eating disorders, I'd like to throw in another way that people try to fit in. Plastic surgery. Whether is lyposuction, a nose job, etc, plastic surgery is all over the place. But recently, plastic surgery in teens has been especially on the rise, from about 306,000 in 2000, to about 333,000 in 2005 (Kids Health). I'm sure the numbers are much higher now. The reason? Trying to fit in. Girls under the age of 18 are going under the knife daily to try to fit in with that image of "perfection." Now what I have to say to this, is WHAT ARE THEIR PARENTS THINKING!? I don't understand how any sane parent would allow their young daughter or son to do this to themselves. Some say, "It makes it where I don't have to become anorexic." Well, honestly, you dont need to become anorexic or have lyposuction. What you need is to learn to accept who you are, and build confidence in the person that you are. From a religious stand point, God made you who you are because that's the person that He wants you to be. Learning to accept that you are who you are is truly the only way that any teen can have a healthy relationship with him or her self, or anyone else. My mother has always told me that "To love someone else, you first have to love yourself." So really, in any relationship whether it be a friend or a partner, you have to love yourself so you can give love, because you can't give what you don't have. Instead of working to be what the media defines as perfect, why can't we each define what our own perfect is? My perfect me is exactly who I am... blonde hair, blue eyes, my skins not perfect but it doesn't bother me. I'm 5'9" and yes, I have curves because me and food have a great relationship. My perfect me is healthy, not starving, and not obese. Thats who I am. I love who I am, and I'm confident that this is who I want to be. I won't lie and say I always accepted who I am. I'm no exception to to the pressure of the media. Everytime I looked in the mirror, my thought pattern went something like this. "ugh what is going on with your skin? and did you gain weight again! you should not have had that ice cream last night! your teeth are getting yellow, your eyes are too gray, and you're to tall. Great. getting paler by the day... now you're completely translucent." It takes time and practice to be able to look in the mirror and say "you really are beautiful," instead of "wow i look disgusting." So my challenge for all you readers, is to practice pointing out the good things about yourself everytime you look in the mirror, whether its small or big. Sounds pretty easy so far right? Now here's the hard part. You can NOT think or say one bad thing about yourself when you look in that mirror. Instead, smile at yourself, and begin to realize that you truly are beautiful. Everyone is beautiful in their own ways, shapes, and forms. And overtime, you won't just be trying to convince yourself of your beauty, but you'll actually begin to see it, and feel it. You don't need plastic surgery to artificially change yourself, you don't need to starve yourself, or constantly be worrying about your so called flaws, you just need to practice loving your perfect self. The media doesn't know anything about what perfect is, like I said, they're just trying to save money on fabric ;)
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