Sometimes I look in the mirror and point out all of the flaws of my body. I'm too short. I'm too chubby. These are often thoughts that pass through the minds of teenagers. Why do we allow the standards set by society to define how we should feel about ourselves?
While being in Korea, I have realized one thing: image is everything in Korea. Before I landed in Korea, my mom had a month long membership to a gym close to her workplace. We worked out every day for an hour, and on top of that, I walked everywhere. When I started to get in shape, people around me told me I was pretty, as if losing weight all of a sudden meant I was pretty to them.
Even my mom would tell me that because I lost weight, I look so much better. I know she doesn't realize she is falling prey to the same ideology that pervades almost everyone in Korea. The ideal body image is a myth. There is no one way to look good. It's about how you perceive yourself and how you feel about your body. The problem with society is allowing children to think that they somehow have to be accepted by society in order to feel good about themselves.
I'm working at an English academy for the summer. I see many thin middle schoolers who tell me that they need to wear big shirts so they don't have to show their belly fat. I have a cousin who's in the first grade. She tells me she can't have another serving of rice because she is afraid of getting fat. I don't think I've ever seen a six-year-old so worried about her weight that she would stop herself from eating.
How did society create this standard of body image where being skinny is being beautiful? I can only imagine that it is due to the years and years of systematically rejecting any other body type as being acceptable. If we don't change the way we view ourselves in relation to the rest of society, we will never find our true selves and be happy.
I am healthy, and that's more than enough. I have been a part of the cycle of shaming myself until I lose weight to gain it all back because I'm doing it for all the wrong reasons. I don't want to be a part of the cycle anymore.
Love yourself for who you are.
If you decide to lose weight or to get into shape, do it because it is what you want and not what society is telling you to do.
