Body shaming is not going to work with someone who accepts what God has given them – as is.
Body Positivity Challenge
My mother was seriously overweight. In Jamaica’s parlance, she would be described as “fluffy.”
Compared to many of the women that surrounded me in those years, my mother was ‘fat’. Granted, back in the 1970’s body size did not seem to have the attention it now has.
By the time of my first serious relationship, things had changed.
The Mid-Life Spread Sets In
I recall the man that seemed so progressive in every other way warning me to “watch the midlife spread.” That was when my adventures in one-week diets started. Despite being hungry as a dog, I would refuse a full meal on dates, choosing instead a salad. The genesis of my hatred for salads lies in those years.
Thousands of dollars would be wasted over my 20’s and early 30’s in unused gym subscriptions, on gym wear and shoes, fitness equipment, diet and exercise books and on various related audiovisuals. At least one intimate relationship crashed on the rocks of the “I am too fat” sea.
Liposuction – considered; facelift – explored; breast augmentation – discussed and thankfully I never had enough financial resources to afford any of these procedures.
Back in 2012 when I was living in Toronto, I was in a store one day trying on some jeans. Not finding any that fitted just right, I lamented to the saleslady how sad it is that my butt is so flat. She vehemently disagreed with me but offered to sell me some for C$30.00 if it would make me feel better.
Is that what it is, we really do not feel good about ourselves because our bodies do not look like the models’?
Female Body Image Challenges
Praise God that on turning 40 and I no longer felt the need to look any particular way to secure a partner. Yes, most female body image challenges are directly related to snagging a partner and/or keeping one.
It took all that time to understand that my body, your body will respond to inner cues and not the other way around. If my self-talk is one that is diminishing who I am as a human being and more so as a woman, not only will my behaviour reflect it but so too my body.
Read an interesting article on this subject and the author provided the following tips for maintaining a healthy body image:
- Remember that health and appearance are two different things.
- Accept and value your genes — you probably inherited a lot of traits from your family members, so love those traits as you love your family.
- Keep a list of your positive qualities that have nothing to do with your appearance.
- Surround yourself with people who are supportive and who make you feel good about yourself. Treat your body with respect and kindness.
Getting Your Body Fixed
Social media and its ‘influencers’ in particular, as well as so-called celebrities, are having a major impact on our view of the world around us. Their influence is much wider than that, extending to how we as women love or despise our bodies. Popular culture, peddled by social media, would have us in a schizophrenic state, constantly trying to fit body images that simply are not innate to our beings.
The rage now is to get work done on one’s body. Fixed.
We are all uniquely different and the sooner that is embraced, the happier all of us will be – in our individual “image and likeness of God.”
Need support accepting that? Drop me a line here, on Facebook and/or on Instagram and let us talk.
Blessings!
