For as long as I can remember, I've always been skinny. I could eat an entire bag of Cheetos and not gain a single pound. When I got to college, I started to gain weight, particularly around my waist. Once I noticed how un-fit I was, I decided I needed to change. I wasn't happy with this. Whenever I would talk some of my friends about this, they would tell me to shut up and that I'm skinny and I should have no reason to complain. I also hate wearing crop-tops. I hate showing my stomach. I never liked my stomach. I have been told that I shouldn't hate my stomach because I'm skinny. Unfortunately, we live in a society where it is acceptable to shame other people's bodies.
Beauty products. With TV commercials, tons of advertising come on, with acne wash or cover up, about how if consumers buy a certain product they'll have clean, clear, beautiful skin. What the company is trying to advertise, that if you use this product, you will be beautiful. What's so wrong about natural beauty? I wear make up almost never and I think I look absolutely stunning. If someone wears make up, that's fine. If they choose to not to wear make up that's fine. If someone doesn't wash their face, then that's fine. But what isn't fine, is telling someone that in order to be beautiful to society, they need to wear x amount of make up, wash their face, and wear certain types of clothes.
Clothing. All the time in magazines, you'll see what celebrities are wearing. The magazines will discuss who wore it best, who was showing the most skin, or who has the biggest butt or stomach. There are so many more important things to talk about besides that. Like I personally would rather read about a cure of AIDS, rather than how big Kim Kardashian's butt is. How much skin someone is showing, how ugly a person's dress is, is so insignificant to anyone's life that it really doesn't matter. There are so many more important things in society.
Photoshop. Everybody knows that people in magazines, don't really look like that. They are really not that skinny. They're skin really isn't that clear. But some people don't get that. They see these people in magazines and they wish that they could look like that. They then start to either go on crazy diets just to look like that. This is not only a unhealthy lifestyle, but an unhealthy way of thinking.
It's all relative. How we view ourselves, defines our actions. It defines how we eat, how we socialize, how we live. Having not only a positive outlook on life can also effect how we look on ourselves. It does take a lot out of a person just to be happy and confident. I used to have very bad self-esteem. I hated everything about myself. I couldn't even call myself beautiful. I now do. I think I am a flawless individual. I do still think I'm not the prettiest person alive, but I know someone one day will. I decide every day how I decide to look at myself. I decide that I won't let advertisement or magazines define not only who I am as a person, but how I view myself.
