Body Acceptance : Talking about things we forget are normal

This ones a wee different and while I talk mainly about women's issues, this a societal issue and it is up to everyone to play their part in changing it. I have never had huge issues with my body and I like how it looks however there are always certain doubts that come when I'm overthinking which outfit I prefer. I believe it is truly normal to doubt ourselves and our bodies however it is how we react to our own negative judgements that determines how we see ourselves over all. I believe that body acceptance and body image are not common in conversation and they should be! How is anyone ever meant to know what's normal if people refuse to talk about it. 

The ideal of being "constantly slim" is pushed in the media and in conversation and it is easy to forget that it is normal for you to look bloated after eating, you can't be "flat" all the time, the food has to sit somewhere.  As I said before, the media portrays women as also slim and small and this is just not the case. You may wake up and think 'wow, my body looks really slim this morning' and that could be the case, but as you eat and drink, your body obviously stores that in your stomach, and it does show but it's normal and healthy and I believe that there needs to be less pressure on women, especially girls, to always be slim, because it is just not possible and for sure not healthy. 

I believe the media is the absolute worst place to go to when you feel insecure. All it takes is one pose for someone to look "nice and slim". Turn your body the right way, and you too can look like that influencer but my problem with this is that it feels like the ideal is that all women have to be small and slim but this is just not possible. It's not normalized that all bodies are different and not every is built to be extremely slim, and trying it just not healthy for your body. Every is built differently and trying to all reach one ideal is just not possible but because that ideal is seen as the norm, women get disheartened and then hate their bodies because it's not the same as the women they see in the media. We need to normalize different sizes and shapes that bodies come in and make them all normal, because the worst feeling in the world is questioning why you can't look like all the models in the media. 

As we can see, there is one common theme in women's struggle with body acceptance and that is the media. The media seems to have a set idea of what women should look like and if they don't then they're deemed 'not good enough'. This is such a negative mentality and it creates so many mental and eating disorders. For our young girls, we need to normalize all bodies and teach them how to look after their physical and mental health and to this we need to change the images portrayed on the media. We need to empower young women in accepting and loving who they are and what they look like, because that does not only create happier people, but it can also make them healthier and give them a better understanding of how to listen to their body. 

Verbally empower people too! Tell them you like their hair or their shoes or their outfit. Tell a stranger you think they're cool. Be nice to each other. You only get one life, don't waste it tearing yourself and others apart. Encourage and support people. Body acceptance is a path everyone must walk alone but it is so much easier if you know you have other people there to help and support you walk that path. 

Only you can change your mindset, but others can help you bring the tools to do so. 

A Little House Plant 🌱