Our modern American landscape has been shaped by a feeling of lack. We are completely blasted not just daily, not just hourly, but practically minute-to-minute about everything we don’t have that we should have. But nowhere is this more damaging than in the area of body image.We are constantly confronted, and I do mean confronted, with pictures of people we “should” aspire to look like. There are several problems with this in reality. For starters, these pictures are professional photo shoots where the photographer has literally spent hours getting the lights and settings perfect to make the model look as good as possible.
Next problem. Once these photos are taken, they are further enhanced through image processing. Sometimes photos are just tweaked to get colors, lights, and shadows the way the photographer wants. But at the extreme end, the actual shape and figure of the model can be altered.
Ok, so whatever right? Computer graphics, or fake doctored photos. It’s just marketing right? It’s not just marketing. Look at all the crap Lady Gaga is getting about being “fat” after the halftime show. It’s freaking ridiculous and just plain sad.
Don’t look to the cover of a magazine, the TV, or some anonymous asshole on the internet to tell you how you should feel about your body. It’s your body, and if you’re happy, then what other people think really doesn’t matter. If someone you care about is nasty to you about it, maybe that person doesn’t care about you as much as you think they do.
if you want to lose weight, or get into better shape, or pick up a new fitness hobby, then do it for you. Don’t do it for someone else. You’ll most likely fail or be miserable if you do. People can be absolutely rotten. You don’t have time for rotten people. There are about 330,000,000 people in America alone. You don’t have to be worried about cutting jerks out of your life.
Looking for happiness comparing yourself to someone else, or some imagined ideal will just bring disappointment and unhappiness. Ideals can’t be met and you can only be you. On the, more than I’d like to admit, occasions I’ve tried to change for someone to get that person’s attention or to impress that person, it’s almost always blown up in my face. And in most cases left me a little worse off than before I tried.
Love yourself and live your life your way. That’s the ideal that I aspire to every day. Anything else is selling myself short.
