Happy love your body day! Every year people all around the nation celebrate love your body day. Love your body day is “a day of action to speak out against poor body image.” The mission of this day is to raise awareness, provide assistance, enhance lifestyle and promote a healthy, well balance life. Today is a day to celebrate who you are whether you are a man, women, or child.The U.S. population spends billions of dollars every year on cosmetics, fashion, magazines and diet aids. These industries work very hard to make us believe that our bodies need constant improvement. Print ads and television commercials are airbrushed and touched up to meet impossible standards. It is no wonder that 80 percent of all U.S. women and nearly half of all U.S. men are dissatisfied with their appearance.
There has been a point in everyone’s life when we feel unhappy about how big our noises are, wishing we had straighter teeth, or wishing we could fit into those skinny jeans. It is important to realize and remember that everyone is different. We all have different genetics. If everyone ate the same and did the same amount of exercise, we would not all look the same. Genetics influence facial features, body shape, height, and weight—the things that help make us uniquely beautiful. Today is a day to celebrate imperfections and to realize that we are beautiful the way we are!
Some of you may have done this in a lecture at H3, but today I challenge you to do it again. Sit down and make a list of 7 physical features you like about yourself. Don’t short change yourself and stop before you reach 7; you may even find that the list goes on and on… If you’re willing to, we’d love for you to share!
"That which is striking and beautiful is not always good, but that which is good is always beautiful." ~Ninon de L'Enclos
Thank you for this supportive post. Our NOW chapter tabled for Love Your Body Day (LVBD) at a local community college. As with previous LVBD tablings, so many of the women who stopped, you could see it in their eyes, their smiles, and hear it in their words, how much they appreciated, needed, and really drank up the words "This day is to remind you that you are beautiful, just the way you are." Women are so starved for these words. Interestingly, it was two thin (but not skeletal) white women who had the hardest time--and in fact couldn't-- signing our "Fat Talk Free Week" pledge: to not say outloud, for a week, disparaging statements about their bodies such as "I'm so fat!" or "I hate my thighs!" One of those women actually said, "If I sign it, do I have to start today?" I thought she was kidding, then realized she was serious. We talked a bit, and I reassured her that the pressure in society on women is enormous to not feel that way (hating our bodies). She struggled, and made an exit when others came to the table. And interestingly, it was a plus-sized, not at all fashion-oriented black woman who was the only one who said she KNEW she was beautiful. She said she knew her size wasn't the societal "ideal," but she loved her body and beauty, and was all beautiful smiles.
ReplyDeleteOk, so your question...7 physical characteristics I like about myself:
1. my silver streak of hair in front--I would never cover it up with dyes, I earned each of those grey hairs, and they look nice
2. my eyes,
3. my forearms,
4. my hands,
5. my fullness (overall)
6. my smile
7. my belly.
Ok, that was hard to do. Thanks for the good challenge. It is perception-shifting, because often times, I think I don't like some of those things, especially my fullness, but just now I'm realizing in some ways I do like it. Thank you! Happy Love Your Body Day, every day, to you, Alicea Glover.
If you want, check out my site, www.socohaes.webs.com, a library of links about "Health At Every Size."
Alice, thank you for sharing!
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