The body-positivity movement is lingering throughout society. It deals with embracing one’s appearance. We live in a world where our appearances define who we are, especially with women. There is this standard created by society which implies that women should look a certain way: a flat stomach, perky chest, thigh gap, etc. in order to be beautiful.
As a woman who grew up struggling with her body and who struggled with these issues hands-on; I believe that society needs to stop creating unattainable standards and instead encourage the normalization of all body types in order to encourage positive feelings towards oneself.
Young girls are constantly placed in front of unattainable body images creating a feeling of unworthiness in our own bodies, because we feel the need to look another way. Constantly feeling this way can influence the way we live our lives. It may be the simplest thing but as they pile on, it can destroy your self-confidence. For example wearing hoodies to cover our stomachs, measuring out how much food to eat, chewing gum to avoid feeling hungry . . .No little girl should be worried about anything like that.
More often than not we are facing unattainable body standards and body trends which we commonly see promoted through social media. Even if not always accurate people will do anything to influence the expectations of their looks such as the use of photoshop. I mean how are we supposed to feel when society expects us all to fit one body type?
This lack of representation of all body types creates this concept of comparison, always feeling not enough with yourself but striving to be like others. This is not what we want to implement within society. Instead, we want to create an environment where we do not let appearance influence our lives.
As I mentioned in the beginning, I have deeply struggled with my body image. Finally, after constant disappointment because I was never confident enough within my body to do/wear certain things, I realized that this mindset was clouding my happiness. I was only restricting myself solely based on my appearance which I would never do to someone else. Over time, I learned to accept and love myself this is not something I learned overnight. It took much effort and time to begin to feel good about myself and at the same time you must understand not every day will be a good day, there will be ups and downs.
Embracing your figure allows you to feel good about your body, because it is yours, not because you look like those Instagram models. I am now able to love myself, understanding that my body is perfect as is. Spending most of life nitpicking everything wrong with myself sent me into a state of emptiness and nothing was going to fill that void except self-love.
Stop comparing yourself to others and focus on the aspects you love about yourself.