Resolve to love yourself!

As the final days of 2015 begin, many of us are naturally looking ahead to the New Year. What will 2016 bring us? A new job? A new love? New goals? A new mission? Let us all make a mutual resolution, shall we? Let’s resolve to improve our own self-image.

How many times have each of us gazed at our own reflection and wondered “what if?” What if I were thinner? What if I could lose ## pounds? What if I were taller? What if…

Don’t get me wrong, losing weight can be an important goal to help improve health. But I would argue that it can be detrimental when the primary reason for losing this weight is to make someone better looking. When will we grow out of this obsession with attaining the “perfect body?”

Much of our obsession can be blamed on media and advertising. But so what? We can’t control advertising, but we can control our reaction to it. We can refuse to purchase products of course, but our best reaction is to refuse to give in to the obsession.

Vintage advertising - Can you name the product?

Another vintage ad... for men's sweaters

Not everyone can be a bodybuilder, athlete, or super model. Whether it is genetics, financial limitations, or a love of pasta and red wine (GUILTY!), the vast majority of people are simply not wired for these so-called perfect bodies.

Although everyone has been subjected to the pressures of body image, unfortunately this obsession primarily affects women. Women have struggled with body image far more than men. The vast majority of anorexia and bulimia nervosa sufferers are women.

How does this impact woman's body image? 

Yet for women, body image is more than just a matter of being thin or fit. I saw one billboard near campus that floored me. It was advertising breast augmentation/plastic surgery. Can this possibly appeal to women enough to get them to consider invasive, unnecessary surgery? Apparently, it can.

I ran across a blog from a young college student that I knew when she was in high school. This young lady is a beautiful person with possibly the best singing voice I ever heard for a high school student. Her blog says it all, and I hope she doesn’t mind the cross post: https://positivelypaigec.wordpress.com/2015/12/28/thinner-beauty/

We all have had people express their dislike or disgust with their body. I have had people close to me express their “horror” at their fat ______ (insert body part here). I know--I am one of them. And yet most of these people are usually healthy. How can we healthy people hate our bodies so much when others have cancer or some other life-threatening disease?

So for this New Year, let us all resolve to live healthier, embrace longer, love deeper, experience life, and accept ourselves and all others for the beautiful people we all are!

-- Food for Thought