Day 1 Forgive Yourself
Make Peace with Yourself and Become Your #1 Fan!
When Beauty is a Beast
The pressures of being a woman can be exhausting and overwhelming. Society expects us to be runway models with perfect bodies, flawless makeup, and magnificent hair! Everywhere we look, something or someone is telling us to be prettier, thinner, more fit, have nicer eyebrows, longer hair, tighter abs. The pressure never ceases.
Most women have compared themselves, at least once, to a photo of a gorgeous model and felt defeated. Thinking “I’ll never look like her. I’m freaking fat!” Any positivity and good energy they have falls into a pit of despair.
We stare in the mirror disgusted with our reflection and long to be prettier, be desirable and look like the so-called perfect model. We become consumed with pressure. The pressure to finally lose weight, get that surgery, grow out that hair and get those lips filled up.
Oddly enough, we also know that those photos are doctored. They get enhanced with filters and spend more time in photoshop than real life. Logic tells us they are false representations of real women. Yet, seeing them still hurts.
Bottom line, it’s impossible to actually look like these women because what we are seeing is not even real! If you look at the women in real life and then compare them to their doctored photos, they don’t even look the same. In Taryn Brumfitt’s unadulterated and raw documentary “Embrace” she shows what goes on behind the scenes in this world. Even pictures of the most beautiful of models go through extensive photo editing. Often the images are so different that the models look nothing like their real selves. Crazy, huh?
What These Expectations are Doing to us
In the quest for beauty, most of us have inflicted harm upon ourselves. We do it through negative self-bashing, painful and expensive beauty procedures and, of course, incessant dieting. Eating disorders, depression, and anxiety are at an all time high. The proof is pretty upsetting: In the U.S. eating disorders kill someone every 62 minutes, depression ranks amongst the top 3 workplace issues in the US and anxiety affects 18% of the population every year. Too many people are suffering through this societal epidemic.
When do we stop comparing ourselves to other people? When do we stop beating ourselves up? When do we stop wishing to be something or someone else? When do we stop dieting, injecting and obsessing over our bodies?
When is enough, enough?
When do we start accepting ourselves, having compassion for ourselves, loving and celebrating who we actually are?!
The answer is RIGHT NOW!
Are you ready to FEEL gorgeous and live a healthier, happier life?!
Of course you are!
Here are three things you can do each day to maintain a healthy mindset and feel good about yourself:
● STOP COMPARING yourself to others on social media, in real life, and to your younger self. So often I hear people say that they wish they were thin or pretty like they were years back.
● Get real about the fake. Plastic surgery, airbrushing and photoshopping aren't going anywhere. By acknowledging their presence, you will reduce your own anxiety. Having a relaxed attitude when you see beautiful women in magazines and on social media is key to a healthy mindset.
● Be at peace with yourself. You are the only one of you in this whole world. There is no one else like you in existence. You are unique and special. You deserve to have a wonderful life.