What I should've said...
You ever have one of those conversations with a friend or a co-worker that you look back on and wish you had handled differently? I had one such conversation a few days ago now with this lovely woman that I work with. Now if she's reading this (and she might, we are FB friends) I hope she understands that I mean this with the utmost sincerity and that she will forgive me <3
She was telling me and a few of my other co workers that she was going to see a doctor in a few days. I asked her what she was going to the doctor for. She said it was a weight loss doctor, and that she wanted to loose her butt. To this I replied: YOUR CRAZY YOUR CRAZY YOUR CRAZY. Her response was silence.
This woman is 5" 4", and she is tiny!! She is skinnier than me (BEFORE I had my baby) I swear, she must be about half my size. I feel like if she turns sideways she'll disapear, and she says she needs to loose weight. Nor does she look sickly or underweight, this lady is sexy!!
I came a cross a photo on FB that really touched a nerve in my mind. Most of you know that I had a baby about a year ago, and there have been changes to my body. Nothing super drastic, but still, I don't look the same. And it has affected me, it's affected the way I dress and carry myself. I have never been a shy person when it comes to my own nudity (understatement of the year if you knew me in college lol), but this has changed me.
So here's the photo:
Look at it!!! Reality check to women everywhere!!! I admit that there are days when I wish I had a body like Kourtney Kardashian in this picture, but the truth is I don't and I probably never will...because THIS PICTURE ISNT REAL!!! I will never be able to acheive what does not exist!!!
Why don't we celebrate the picture on the right?? Why don't we have real women, real sexy stretch-marked women on the covers of magazine's??
Anyway, back on topic...this woman on the right is Taryn Brumfitt, leader of The Body Image Movement, the website description says this: Body Image Movement is a "movement" to recognise and value real beauty from the inside out. Our role is to harness and facilitate positive body image activism, this includes encouraging woman to be more accepting of who they are, to talk a positive body language (about their own bodies and others) and to prioritise their health before beauty.
The site is http://www.bodyimagemovement.com.au/
This movement speaks to not just looking at ourselves in a more positive way, but speaking in a more positive way, about ourselves and others. No longer telling ourselves "God, I'm fat," "I hate my nose," "I have my own personal innertube," or whatever it is that you say. I personally have said all of these phrases to myself at least once a day.
That stops now.
To turn this back to my conversation with my co-worker, rather than calling her crazy what I should have said was this: "You are beautiful just the way you are." How many times does a person you are not so well acquainted with say this to you in a day? For me the only person who says this to me is my boyfriend.
Anyway, so I am trying to change the way I speak about body image, not just for myself but for my son, my boyfriend, and people around me in general. Put positivity out into the universe people!! Our body is a vessel...and it doesn't last that long anyway!!
Remember, you are beautiful just the way you are.
She was telling me and a few of my other co workers that she was going to see a doctor in a few days. I asked her what she was going to the doctor for. She said it was a weight loss doctor, and that she wanted to loose her butt. To this I replied: YOUR CRAZY YOUR CRAZY YOUR CRAZY. Her response was silence.
This woman is 5" 4", and she is tiny!! She is skinnier than me (BEFORE I had my baby) I swear, she must be about half my size. I feel like if she turns sideways she'll disapear, and she says she needs to loose weight. Nor does she look sickly or underweight, this lady is sexy!!
I came a cross a photo on FB that really touched a nerve in my mind. Most of you know that I had a baby about a year ago, and there have been changes to my body. Nothing super drastic, but still, I don't look the same. And it has affected me, it's affected the way I dress and carry myself. I have never been a shy person when it comes to my own nudity (understatement of the year if you knew me in college lol), but this has changed me.
So here's the photo:
Look at it!!! Reality check to women everywhere!!! I admit that there are days when I wish I had a body like Kourtney Kardashian in this picture, but the truth is I don't and I probably never will...because THIS PICTURE ISNT REAL!!! I will never be able to acheive what does not exist!!!
Why don't we celebrate the picture on the right?? Why don't we have real women, real sexy stretch-marked women on the covers of magazine's??
Anyway, back on topic...this woman on the right is Taryn Brumfitt, leader of The Body Image Movement, the website description says this: Body Image Movement is a "movement" to recognise and value real beauty from the inside out. Our role is to harness and facilitate positive body image activism, this includes encouraging woman to be more accepting of who they are, to talk a positive body language (about their own bodies and others) and to prioritise their health before beauty.
The site is http://www.bodyimagemovement.com.au/
This movement speaks to not just looking at ourselves in a more positive way, but speaking in a more positive way, about ourselves and others. No longer telling ourselves "God, I'm fat," "I hate my nose," "I have my own personal innertube," or whatever it is that you say. I personally have said all of these phrases to myself at least once a day.
That stops now.
To turn this back to my conversation with my co-worker, rather than calling her crazy what I should have said was this: "You are beautiful just the way you are." How many times does a person you are not so well acquainted with say this to you in a day? For me the only person who says this to me is my boyfriend.
Anyway, so I am trying to change the way I speak about body image, not just for myself but for my son, my boyfriend, and people around me in general. Put positivity out into the universe people!! Our body is a vessel...and it doesn't last that long anyway!!
Remember, you are beautiful just the way you are.