"I'm beautiful, and so are you." Corny, I know. But it's something that I find myself needing a reminder of almost daily, and something that many of us do not tell ourselves nearly often enough. I read a post today on Dan Pearce's blog, "Single Dad Laughing", entitled "The disease called 'Perfection'". If you haven't read it, you should check it out :). It dredged up a lot of feelings for me, and for some reason brought back the memory of an incident with one of my girlfriends a few months back.
A few of my friends and I were getting ready for a party we were having at our place, and one of my friends came in to my room to complain to me that she couldn't find anything to wear because she "looked fat" in everything. This from a girl who not only is smaller than I am, but who also, the day before, was proudly informing me that her new dress was a size 0. So when she came into my room telling me this, I felt a lot of things. I was annoyed, because she frequently talked about how much she had recently slimmed down, so I had a hard time believing she truly believed she looked "fat". I was hurt, because if she thought she looked overweight/unattractive, how did she think I, a bigger girl than she, looked? And I was angry, because for some reason I felt that she must be telling me this to make me feel bad and herself feel better.
Now I feel differently. After reading the aptly titled post "The disease called 'Perfection'" this morning, I no longer feel annoyed, or hurt, or angry. I simply feel...sad. Sad because a friend who I know is truly a beautiful woman feels the need, at a size 0/2, to seek compliments in order to feel good about her body. Sad because I know I do the same. But it's not her I'm upset with, or me. It's society's skewed perception of what is acceptable for the female body. And it's plain wrong. I have friends who naturally fit the fashion/modeling world's view of acceptable. They are tall and slender, and look every inch the run-way models that they could be. And they are beautiful. But I also have friends who are crazy curvy, or stick thin, or athletic and muscular, or petite and slim, or any other body type imaginable. And that's just fine, because each and every one of them is BEAUTIFUL too. We all have our moments of insecurity, but we don't have to let them rule our lives. So the next time you face one, or one of your friends comments on one of theirs, take a moment to look in a mirror, or turn them to a mirror, and say "I am beautiful, and so are you."
