As summer is approaching I began to think about all the possible fun activities that sunny days and warmer weather offer us. I then began to think about what summer clothes I have and if I would need to buy some new ones which is a daunting and mostly frustrating endeavor at best. I mean have the rest of you noticed that in recent years retailers all seem to think that all women want their butt cheeks hanging out of their shorts and their stomachs hanging out of their tops? Have you noticed that most summer clothing seems to be geared towards, and would only look good on, those young girls with super model thin hard bodies? And what’s up with now having to buy each piece of a two piece bathing suit separately with each piece costing the price of two full bathing suits not that many years ago?
All of this made me start thinking about how I would feel wearing less clothing after a winter of hiding my body in jeans and baggy sweatshirts.
This is something I seem to ponder every spring. It’s a reoccurring dilemma not only for me but for most women. I don’t know and have never met a single woman who does not have at least some body image issues and who does not have at least one (or ten) things they don’t like about their body. Whether it’s the extra weight we tend to carry around our waist as we get older, or the wrinkles in our skin after so many years in the sun, or breasts that are too small or too big, or a butt that’s too big or not perky enough-the list goes on and on. There is always something that we feel needs “fixed” before we can fully live our lives without worrying about how other people think about it or how we feel we look.
Whether it’s because of the way we were raised, or were maybe bullied in school, or put down by a partner, or just the bombardment of TV ads, so many women have become self conscious and unsure of their individual beauty and qualities and are hesitant, or downright refuse, to wear the clothes they want or participate in the activities they want for fear of how they will look doing it and that is so wrong!
Is it important for us to care about our bodies-how they look, how we feel, what we put into them? Absolutely! Should we eat healthy whenever we can? Should we exercise regularly? Should we drink plenty of water every day? Should we get off the couch and out from in front of the TV and maintain an active lifestyle? Absolutely! But we should do it for ourselves, for our health, for strength, for longevity, NOT to appease someone’s, or society’s, perception of the ideal body.
We are all made in God’s perfect image. We are all His masterpiece and yes sometimes we do things and live certain ways that may alter that physical image in our eyes and society’s eyes but that does not mean we are less beautiful, less worthy, or less valuable. And it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t wear the clothes we want to wear, or do the things we enjoy, or make the memories with the people we love just because we may be self conscious or somebody else may have an ignorant opinion about it.
I don’t know about you but I admire the women I see in bathing suits on the beach that may be carrying extra weight, or their aged skin is wrinkled, or their body parts are sagging, because they’ve gotten to the point where they are living their lives freely and authentically without worrying about what other people think. They have the right strength, the right courage, the right attitude, and I aspire to get fully to that point too someday. And I hope you do too.
But in the meantime we should wear the clothes we want and do the things we want. We should go to the beach, create the memories, take the pictures, and not worry that we may not look model perfect or as put together as others.
Learn to be comfortable in your own skin. Change your mindset to being grateful for your health, your loved ones, your life and the opportunity to live it, and don’t worry about what others think.
You have one life~make the most of it!
