The Truth Will Set You Free

If you read my last blog, I walked you through the actual writings of girls and women who use Thinspiration and struggle to reach some sort of perfection that their bodies were probably not meant to achieve.

I can sit here all night long and say, "stop comparing yourself to people."  That doesn't work.  Everyone has heard these cliches.  "You look fine."  "You're beautiful the way you are."  If we believed it, we wouldn't question it.

All of those sentiments should be true for yourself, but that's easier said than done.

One posting that I did not include in the last blog was written by a woman who took a picture of a woman and essentially said I want to be like her because she's REAL.

Is she?

What if, like packages of cigarettes, models had to have warning labels?

WARNING: ANOREXIC. MAY CAUSE INFERTILITY, SHUT DOWN OF MAJOR BODY SYSTEMS, BRAIN DAMAGE, HEART ATTACK, OR DEATH.

WARNING: BREAST IMPLANTS. PHOTOSHOPPED THIGHS AND HIPS. HIGHLIGHTS ADDED TO BREASTS AND CHEST AREA. BEST PHOTO OUT OF 120 TAKEN WITH TOP 1% OF MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN.  THIS PHOTO IS UNSAFE FOR GENERAL COMPARISON.

If we knew everything these photos went through and the women went through to get there, we might think differently about how we perceive them.

I saw a short interview with a Victoria's Secret model.  The journalist asked her, "What is your favorite part of your body?"

She hesitated.  Shrugged her shoulders then finally came up with an answer.  "My butt.  It's the only place I have curves."

Ain't that funny?  You could be spending all this time staring at Victoria Secret models and pining for their bodies and all that time, they could be doing the same with yours.  The truth of the matter is, whether you're a model or "normal" we have a natural inclination to want what we don't have.  It works within us in every aspect of our lives.  It brings out greed in some, envy in others.  

Here's an exercise to try.  And I don't mean of the physical kind.  Next time you find yourself staring in the mirror dissecting every last piece of yourself, step away from the mirror.  Train yourself to think: "It's ok.  Don't worry about it."  Or even just an apathetic, "Meh."  Learn to brush it off, then go do something in which you excel.  Something that calms you.  Even if it is exercise, but I warn that if you choose exercise it's more dangerous.  It is directly correlating with your insecurity.  Your appearance will not change after three hours at the gym.  Oh, and if you have a scale, GET RID OF IT.  You don't need it.  It's one more thing to obsess over.  

As a book nerd, my recommendation is to find a good book. Find yourself a heroine, someone to look up to, that is not just about physicality.  Get lost in the story.  Move your focus to helping others.  Perhaps go volunteer to help with the poor or sick.  Your perspective will quickly shift when you realize how much you have when others don't.  And you will get the same adrenaline rush as a workout, because you've done something good.

This re-learning of thinking is a long process.  Even if you can't shrug off the thoughts, your first challenge is to just walk away.