As women, we are held to higher standards than men and the pressure of that can be unbearable. Many of us preach about how young girls shouldn't care so much about their appearance or body weight and yet, most of us do care despite the fact that we know better. It's not entirely our fault; some of them blame lies in the society we have been brought into...The ones that push the standards of beauty on us over and over again, to the point where we feel we have no choice but to buy into it. We see movies, music videos, magazine covers, runways, all of which are filled with women who are no bigger than a size two. It may take a real effort to wake up every day and embrace our flaws, but we need to remember that it's not impossible.
I remember being 16 years old and staring at myself in the mirror for hours and hours. I would stare at myself and think about all of the things I wished I could change and I actually believed that my life would be better if I could make those changes. It was a horrible feeling and I wish I could go back and tell myself what a waste of time that was. It took me years to grow out of the bad habit and even longer to start embracing my flaws. Now, as a 27-year-old woman, I think about all of the young girls who are spending too much time staring at their own reflections. I think about my four younger sisters, two who of which are still in high school, and how they struggle with their own insecurities. I can feel their pain and I know how badly it can hurt, which is why I decided to make a change. I made a change so that I can be a good role model for them. I'm not saying that I wake up every day feeling great about myself; I have good and bad days just like everybody else. Sometimes I find myself having a bad week in which I start to let my flaws get the best of me, but I've learned that that's just part of being human. It's okay to have bad days every now and then as long as we don't have too many of them.
If we want our society to change how they view us, then we need to take the first step. I know some efforts have been made at this point, but when we are still labeling a model who is a size six as a "plus size model," we have issues. How many times have you seen a full-bodied, curvy woman walking down the runway at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show? Exactly my point. It may seem at times as if there is no light at the end of the tunnel because we keep trying and nothing has really changed yet, but I believe there is. I believe we can live in a world where young girls can feel good about their skills, their talents, and their passions without worrying about counting calories. We can start promoting health and stop using the word "skinny" as idealistic. We can demand clothing companies to stop labeling certain sizes as "plus sizes." We can be curvy without being called a "plus size woman," thank you very much. We can unite as one and build our confidence together.
One of my favorite trends on social media right now is the 'Same girl. Different Angles.' I've only seen a handful of them at this point, but I applaud every woman who has posted their own. I also give so much credit to Ashlie Molstad, a fitness model, who first posted a photo of herself from two different angles back in November, along with a powerful message to all women. THIS is what we need to see more of. THIS is our chance to make a real and lasting change. We have the ability to focus on what matters and what doesn't, and whether you are a size zero or a size eight, it doesn't matter. Sometimes I don't think we even realize how much those bad thoughts can affect our lives. If we feel bad about ourselves because we are not happy with the way we look, we tend to shy away from certain things. We may let others intimidate us more easily and let our ambitions slip away. We may feel less confident at school or at work and let it interfere with the work we are doing. Overall, it can be extremely toxic to our lives and it can greatly affect the goals we set for ourselves.
All I know is this: I want to be a good influence on young girls and women everywhere. I don't want to be another woman feeding into the bullsh*t this world has tried to throw at us. We need to change how we view ourselves before we can expect anybody else to, and I believe we will.
