Check out 16 Return-To-Work Programs In India For Ambitious Women Like You!
Beauty and weight are not interconnected. Comparison, body shaming can affect our self confidence. Let's pledge acceptance and body positivity.
Who do you think is beautiful ?
Are they the skinny models who walk the ramp or who feature in advertisements? Is it the winner of the beauty pageants ?
I read a beautiful quote by Osho the other day, ” Accept yourself the way you are. And that is the most difficult thing in the world, because it goes against your training, your education and your culture. From the very beginning, you have been told how you should be; Nobody has ever told you that you are as good as you are. ”
Right from the moment we are born, we are always being compared. Even if it is just with our own siblings or the other elder members in the family. In some cases these run do deep that a person just tries to survive in that shadow. The result is a person with a low self esteem.
I have been body shamed all my life. When it was not my family, it was my school mates, neighbours and the so called more beautiful.
I do have broad hips, so even if I starve myself, I can never be that petite frame. Yet, it took me decades to accept this simple truth. To fit into the societal standards, I have gone on crash diets all through my teenage. Over the years, food became my solace too and I have put my body through repeated cycles of overeating and then fasting.
Every child more particularly girls tend to put on weight at menarche, at child birth and at menopause. We all know it is hormonal. Yet, the very attitude of society pulls so many into doing unimaginable diets. Did you identify with this? I know many will.
How many people keep hiding from their own persona due to the labels the society gives, “Fat, thin, Black, milky-white.” Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. Yet, why do we make it so difficult to accept. It absolutely irks me when my facebook / instagram ads show me weight loss apps. Over the last few years, the world has become obsessed with weight loss/ looks. Was it always like that and I never paid any heed. You don’t need to lose weight to look beautiful. You are beautiful the way you are. Yes, and I want everyone reading this to look into the mirror and say to self confidently till it becomes ingrained in you. “I am beautiful.”
Intermittent fasting, keto, GM diet, Military diet …there are so many of them lurking in those sponsored ads. I too have been at times lured, but my rational mind and my medical background has always helped me talk out of it.
You need to lose weight for medical reasons yes, but that does not require every tom dick and harry right to market it. There are certified nutritionists to help if you really need to. If you are at a high risk may be due to your uncontrolled sugars, a strong family history of heart diseases, hypertension or your weight is a hindrance to your mobility or is harming your knees etc. you need to follow what your nutritionist advises you and not some crappy website. Everyone needs to be fit and active, and it is not a book rule that only thin are fit and active. You need to get fit and active because sedentary life style puts you at risk of many diseases. Don’t mix these two up. You need to eat right for the same reason, but not ever because you are not beautiful.
Who is beautiful ? Each and every one of us is beautiful. Beauty is skin deep. Beauty lies within you. Beauty is in your heart and your soul. Let’s embrace that beauty within us.
A vagabond ! A lost soul ! A blank page trying to write my own story! By profession, I am a Pathologist ! A doctor behind the scenes. By passion, I am a blogger. I love reading, writing, read more...
This post has published with none or minimal editorial intervention. Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
Please enter your email address