The typical model is 5'11 and weighs 117 pounds. That's pretty crazy. I don't know very many people with that kind of body. So it's funny that those are the bodies we see most on TV and in magazines. I see images of older men "aging gracefully". Gray hair on men? He's a "silver fox", right? But what about women with gray hair? Color over grays! Fine lines? There's Botox! From the time our girls are little they see princesses in frilly dresses attracting a charming prince and living happily ever after. We never get to see Cinderella at age 60 or Sleeping Beauty with no makeup and bed-head. From childhood we are shown perfectly unrealistic standards. Every day I realize more and more that our society and culture are teaching women and girls that getting older is a process that we have to fight as hard as we can. I know this because I fear it myself. We have hair dye to hide the gray, potions to erase our freckles and stretch marks, and plenty of other expensive items to whiten our teeth or tan our skin. The problem is that no matter how hard we fight, it's going to happen. Yes, cue the dark depressing music, we will all get old. It can be so scary to think about when advertising tells us it's not okay. We're shown images of perfect and flawless bodies and told that if we want to be noticed and valued, we need a body like that too. We're told to diet, to count calories, to extend our eyelashes, paint our lips, wear less clothing, color our hair. I feel like we're being told that the way we look isn't enough, we always needs to enhance and make it better, more beautiful. Every day I struggle to fight against the pressure to be perfect. At the gym I find myself looking at how small someone else's waist is, or linger over a celebrity on the cover of a magazine, all the while thinking "if I can just work a little harder and eat a little healthier, I could look like that." The problem is that the girl at the gym has a different body type than me and the celebrity on the magazine cover? Well that's either photoshop or a personal trainer and more hours in the gym than I have to spare. I've found myself feeling bad or self-conscious if I didn't have time to put on makeup. We shouldn't feel bad or ugly because we didn't paint the face we were born with! You see, what we're doing is placing value on what girls and women look like(and I'm sure men feel this to some extent too). No longer do young girls care so much about being smart or good at sports, they want most just to be attractive, to be noticed. We are teaching them that this is where their value lies. We can't change an entire culture, but we can change individuals. Encourage girls and women you know to embrace how they were made. Embrace how you were made! Encourage an active lifestyle, not so that your body will attract attention, but so that you can feel healthy. Don't fear getting older. Don't be afraid of your freckles or your fine lines! Give compliments. Accept compliments! Think about the women in life that you admire the most. Is it because of their thin waist and perfect hair? How tall they are or white their teeth? My guess is no. Think about their character, their compassion, what they stand for. My grandmother is a good example. I don't remember her for looking like a supermodel. The laugh lines on her face were constant reminders of her kindness. The gray hair a symbol of the years she spent caring for others before herself. She was one of the kindest and most compassionate people I've ever known. FInd your value in helping and loving others. Help others find their value in that too. We can make a change little by little. Time passes and we can't stop it, but we can use the time we have to do good. It's not easy, I can attest to that, but we must make the effort to be okay with ourselves just the way we are. The next time you're tempted to look in the mirror and think something negative, don't do it! Get your value from what's on the inside. It's said a lot, but it's truly the only thing that lasts.
“The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that
she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman is seen
in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart,
the place where love resides. True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.
It's the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows &
the beauty of a woman only grows with passing years.”
-Audrey Hepburn There are future generations of girls who need to see what real beauty is and where it comes from. Let's be the ones to show them.
-Laura Leigh
