I’d like to think I'm a pretty self accepting person when it comes to Body Image - It took me a long time to realise that though. Like most females I do have areas of myself that I want to change and improve on. I personally find the "YOU MUST BE HAPPY IN YOUR OWN SKIN, DONT CHANGE YOURSELF" mentality a little overwhelming. While it might be a controversial opinion but I think you can be happy with the way you look but also have parts of you that want to improve on. If thats by changing your hair cut, loosing some weight or even having surgery. We all have something that we don’t like about ourselves but having wobbly bits or wanting to change parts of your body isn't something we should automatically look down on.
I see a lot of negativity in the media and online directed towards those who change their body through surgery, wear makeup or weave or loose or gain weight and even towards people who choose healthy lifestyles and work out. It feels like no matter what you do these days to improve your look you'll be portrayed as having a negative body image, hate yourself or are chronically insecure. Is that really the case though?
I read a comment on a Youtube video recently (I know, weird place to read something so insightful) that went along the lines of:
"Body image is not about loving the way you look when you're born. It's about being happy with yourself, and if that means you want to takes strides to change yourself, or not, then so be it. The only way you're ever going to be beautiful is if YOU believe you are.”
I don’t know why but it really struck a chord with me.
While I totally believe that loving the skin your born in is absolutely paramount. Being happy with yourself is key. We all have different standards of what makes a person beautiful. Yet self improvement seems to be looked down within the modern idea of simply just championing your own body image.
My appearance isn't the most important thing to me, and definitely not in the way it used to be. It really isn't something I worry about too much now that I've hit 25. I spent most of my teens thinking I was too fat and too ugly and I look back at pictures of myself now and think "Why did I hate myself so much"? There was literally nothing wrong with me and I wish I’d got that into my head much sooner.
I like enjoy looking nice and presenting myself in a way that empowers and makes me feel good. It's like... Remember all that anti-feminist crap that was spouting by a journalist about Zoella? Makeup, clothing and appearance isn't anti-fem in the slightest. These things can make you feel better and in turn make you feel more confident and I don't think there is anything wrong with that. If you want to wear a shit ton of makeup or if you want to eat 30 burgers a day o then thats your choice. If you want to get a boob job or go to the gym and lift then thats your choice. Improving your body is awesome. You do you!
The road to self acceptance and positive body image is a long and rocky one that as I’ve entered my mid twenties has become something that I just get on with. Im happy in my skin and love lots of things about the way I look, however I'd like to be a bit trimmer and have a cute flat tum. BUT Im okay with not being there yet and I think having a postive Body Image should be whatever
