Over the years, society has created this unrealistic, perfect perception of how women should look. Society has claimed that the perfect woman has to have skinny long legs, beautiful un-frizzy hair, acne-free faces, gorgeous light eyes, long lushes lashes, stretch-mark free flat stomachs, and nice plump lips. Yes, I'm not going to lie, for a long time I wished I had all of these features. I hated my curves, my thunder-thighs, my bubble-butt, and my little rolls on my stomach. I envied not having a fit skinny body. But, I alone, created my own insecurities with the help of society's ideals.
It took me awhile to realize that real beauty is not just how you "look," but how you embrace your beauty with true self-confidence. It did take me awhile to truly accept myself and love myself just a little harder.
Here are three videos that showed me how to express and accept true self-love and self-confidence:
1. Share Your Spark by #AerieREAL Campaign Ad:
"Half of the girls had never even been on a photo shoot," #AerieREAL role model Lawrence says in the video, "And yet all these women proudly bared their real selves."
I recently saw this short commercial ad on Youtube that really inspired me. I automatically felt more confident with myself by seeing different sized models parade around in their underwear. Not only did this ad show how to feel confident, but to embrace it.
In the media, fashion companies such as, Victoria Secret, are known to airbrush and photoshop their own models imperfections. In my opinion, Victoria Secret models are known to have perfect fit bodies. Why would they need to cover-up even more? This is because of the media's views on how woman should look: airbrushed and unrealistic. This ideal needs to change.
On the other hand, "Aerie" for American Eagle: Lingerie and Apparel documented a campaign ad called "Share Your Spark" in which they used real women to model in their ads. These women included Aerie staff members, bloggers, designers and customers. Aerie is a brand known for embracing body positivity. Its photoshop-free ads have inspired many across the internet because truly, Aerie is going against social normalities of what woman should look like. Can I get a HELL YEAH!
Throughout the video, the models give there own thoughts on how they embrace their confidence and self-love. Tori Roth, Aerie undie designer, says: "The most important thing is to not let other people define who you are." Judgement by others kills our self-esteem. What Roth is trying to say is to never let someone's judgement about you define who you are. Amber Tolliver, original #aerieREAL model, says: "Embrace everything about you." You, yourself, are your worst enemy. The insecurities you create come from within what you perceive of yourself and what others think about you. Embrace your flaws, embrace your skin, embrace who you are because it all shows your true beauty.
2. "Love Myself" by Hailee Steinfeld
"I love me. Gonna love myself, no, I don't need anybody else."
When I first heard this song on the radio, I automatically felt inspired. This catchy pop song embarks on self-love. Steinfeld's empowering lyrics shows how much she loves herself and that everyone should love their body. Not only your body, but that you don't need anyone to love you if you essentially love yourself.
In order to accept yourself you need to let go of the judgments you make of yourself and accept your insecurities. Instead, fill your mind with confidence and love with who you are. Your beauty comes from within.
3. "We need to talk about body confidence..." by Tanya Burr
"Body confidence for me is accepting your body and not trying to be like someone else."
Tanya Burr is a very famous blogger on YouTube, that has over three million subscribers. She uploads a mixture of fashion, makeup, baking and vlogs on her channel.
In this video, she posted a Q&A (Questions and Answers) video, in which she had her viewers tweet her questions for her to answer. Some were mainly makeup and fashion questions, but one viewer asked Burr: "Top tips for body confidence?" (Question and Answer for this question starts at the 3:34 minute mark.) Burr responded that she was really glad that the viewer asked that question and explained further on her own tips for body confidence.
Burr states that body confidence comes with age and that it's really important to except yourself. She continues to say that she isn't going to have "a straight figure" and that she has accepted that. She gives an example by comparing herself to Cara Delevingne, a famous Victoria Secret model. She says in her video: "Cara Delevingne is gorgeous and I love her figure, but I shouldn't idolize someone like that and think oh I want to have a figure like them, because it's actually not attainable for me. Like, I am naturally curvy and even if I lost a ton of weight I still would not be that shape and it wouldn't look good on me anyway." She ends her response by saying: "I have had so much more body confidence since I've accepted the way that my body looks. You really need to love your body and be thankful for it."
These three videos helped inspire me to truly tell myself to stop judging who I am and accept my flaws and insecurities. Next time you look in a mirror tell yourself: "I am beautiful and I love myself." Don't think negatively about yourself, instead work on creating a better you.
"To all girls who think they're fat because you're not a size zero, you are beautiful. It's society who's ugly. -Marilyn Monroe
