You Should Go And Love Yourself

When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Do you see beauty?

We are bombarded by images and messages of what is deemed beautiful everyday.

Magazines, TV, social media, shops, the list goes on! Have you ever stopped to consider where these ideas might be coming from? Who decided that eyebrows had to be on fleek, highlighter was the way to go, and stomachs had to be flat?

Does it really matter?

At the beginning of this year, after many years of refusing to do it, I joined the gym. If you would have asked me to my face why I decided to do it, I would have said “to become more healthy” – But really, deep down inside, the answer was “because I want to lose weight and become toned because I think that is attractive”

Months of going didn’t change my body or thoughts.

Where was I getting this idea from, that my body wasn’t ok? It was perfectly fine in terms of health and weight, so what was the problem?

Looking around at adverts, TV shows, posts and more, it occurred to me, that for decades, the media has created the notion of what was “good” and “accepted”.

Society follows what the media says looks good on our bodies and faces. But who gave them the right to decide how I should look? If I was healthy, why should I change my body or style to fit with their ideas?

It’s a revelation that broke me.

I began to change my perspective on who gets the right to decide how I feel about my body, included lots more body positive and body inclusive social media figures in my timelines and adopted a more balanced approach to thoughts around food and exercise.

It’s a daily struggle. I’m not 100% positive about myself all the time, but it’s a journey.

We need to realise that we are all born different, we do not have to fit society or the media’s standards. Our bodies are great and beautiful as they are. Different they may be, but we are all fabulous!

So if you look in the mirror and don’t like what you see; begin the journey to self-love and body positivity.

Start to think, where did I get this idea from that a particular feature I have isn’t good or beautiful? Is it something that has been directly said to me by a person, or indirectly through the messages I hear or see?

Begin to challenge and change your thoughts on your beauty and body. Surround yourself with body positive people, books, quotes, songs to help change your mindset. Start loving you because, girl, as Bruno Mars put it, you are beautiful just the way you are!

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.” – Miss Piggy

*Disclaimer: Girl Got Faith does not condone violence and cannot be held responsible for anyone getting a black eye (lol!)