Saturday, February 13, 2016

Look at the photos



Beautiful photos. 

I'm a sucker for traditional beauty. I'm as guilty as the next fat woman of regarding my belly in horror and humiliation and trying to hide it at all costs. Muscles and smoothness and leanness look good, there is no question.

But the body positivity movement is also a seductive one. If only we could all embrace such shifts in perception. There are many forms of beauty.

I can't argue I'd rather look like a beautiful thin person in a bikini than a beautiful fat one, but nor have I ever been willing to do what it takes to shape myself that way. A happy person, that looks good on everyone.

I don't have the answers to this, and the way things are going, I probably never will. It seems connected to what lovely Elizabeth Gilbert wrote about self love the other day - I also very much like this. The sad thing is, I'm aware that the time in my life when I felt most confident, attractive and happy was a year in which I felt secure in the idea that I was loved and deserving of it.The power of that can't be denied, no matter how much the benefits and necessity of self-love is extolled. I don't argue with that - I do agree you need to love yourself first and I don't think that's a criticism of lonely/anxious/depressed people, as I've seen argued. It's quite the vicious circle, however. It's hard/er to create it in a vacuum.


4 comments:

Ms. Moon said...

It's hard to create it even when you're not in a vacuum.

Jo said...

Sure. Of course. I'm thinking more of my own experiences of external validation, I guess. It's a good magic feather for me.

Mwa said...

There's nothing harder.
I was reading something helpful today in a book on running and meditation: the guru guy said that the first thing to do if you want to be happy is to choose positive things to do. Instead of watching tv, go out for a walk or sports, instead of going on Facebook meditate. Taking care of yourself and others is a first step to happiness.
I generally don't go in for suggesting answers, but I thought this might be helpful. Put the focus on actions for a while and less on improving the emotions. The emotions should then follow. I'm preaching to myself as much as you here.

Jo said...

God knows I need to get off facebook.

And go swimming again. I kind of need to go early in the mornings though, and getting up early fills me with cosmic despair.