Every morning I have the same routine: get out of bed, go to the bathroom, look at myself in the mirror, lift up my shirt and look at my stomach. I spend a few seconds glancing at how thin I look, or rather, how thin I don't look. I lower my shirt and go about my day with the image from that morning in my head. Throughout the day I am constantly thinking about what I should and should not eat. If I choose something I want but shouldn't eat, I immediately feel guilty, and go the rest of the day regretting my decision. I scroll through my Instagram feed and see the many fitness pages I follow for "inspiration", when in reality, they bring nothing but un-satisfaction and depression. Very few people would know any of this about me, because insecurities are not topics we as humans willingly talk about. I have always known that I obsess too much over my body, but it wasn't until recently I have felt the importance of confronting the issue.
Every day we are faced with magazine covers of beautifully fit women and titles on "how to get a flat stomach", "how to look like (insert celebrity on magazine)", or "how to get a thigh gap". We scroll through social media and are bombarded with photos of people at the gym, or their healthily delicious meals. Everywhere and everything is engulfed by the message of body image.
I realize that this is nothing new, and that this is an issue that will never end. What I refuse to accept, is that we can't rise above it. I don't know about you, but I am exhausted. I'm tired of obsessing over the two donuts I had yesterday and convincing myself that I can notice the 10 pounds I clearly gained from them. I'm tired of not being able to look at another person without instantly comparing my body size to theirs. But most of all, I'm tired of us not realizing that no matter how fit someone is, no-body is perfect. I don't mean "nobody", but specifically, "no-body".
Anna Victoria, an Instagram fitness celebrity, recently started the trend of posting photos of her imperfect body. Not in such a way as complaining about her problem areas, but more to show everyone that no matter how great her body may look in certain photos, she too gets belly rolls when she sits down. The little areas that we obsess the most about, are in fact, areas that even the fittest people still have, because they're natural!
We get these ideas that if we could just look like the person on the magazine, that our bodies would be perfect. No more arm flab, no more double chin, no more thunder thighs, no more muffin top, because clearly the photoshopped celebrity doesn't have any of those in the perfectly selected photo. If we continue to compare ourselves to fiction, we will never be satisfied. We must stop believing that once we have the perfect body we will be happy, because there is no such thing.
Anna challenged girls, just like you and I, to post photos of their "flab" to begin the step towards being comfortable in our own skin, no matter your size. We tend to view skinny people as if they must be the happiest people. If only we could be that size, everything would be okay. But you see, I have never been overweight. I have always been one that my friends would complain to about how flat my stomach is, or how toned my body looks. I'm not saying this to be cocky or to brag, because the fact is, none of that affected me. No matter how others may have viewed me, I was convinced my body was never good enough. All I could ever see were my flaws.
So instead of obsessing, comparing, and tearing ourselves apart for each little detail, let us realize that EVERYONE has flaws inside and out. There is nothing wrong with wanting to eat right and work out. Of course we should take care of our bodies, but life is way too short to consume ourselves over something that is unrealistic. There's only so much we can do for our bodies on the outside, but there's SO much we can do on the inside. The sooner we stop holding ourselves to standards that should have never been created, the happier we will be.
Nobody is perfect, no-body is perfect. Let us all encourage each other to embrace our flaws, because we are all given them. We can overcome this obsession, because there is more to life than a thigh gap. Now I'm going to go have a slice of pizza, and I'm going to enjoy every last bite of it.
