You Only Get One Body to Walk This Earth With — Respect It

Body-shaming is an Epidemic in Society. Don’t become your own victim.

We are bombarded with images of the perfect person at every turn. Perfect, silky smooth hair. Perfect, flawless skin. Slender, yet well-toned, physique. Tall, but not too tall. Proportioned, but not too curvy. Perfect job. Perfect relationships. Perfect life. The list goes on and on. Body image is implanted with the first awareness of their physical being in children. Doctors and mothers compare babies in terms of the child’s percentile rating in height and weight before the baby is even aware of their own body parts. Being at the upper end of the height parameter is okay. Being in the upper portion of the weight parameter — not so much. It doesn’t take long for a child to understand they are being measured against some abstract evaluation system — it also doesn’t take long to understand where they are falling short. Chubby children tend to grow into chubby (overweight? Morbidly obese?) adults. Before toddlers are able to walk without bumping into walls, mothers are evaluating their size and shape in an effort to alter their genetic and biological course of history. There has been a lot of research done with respect to body image. Little girls as young as three years of age have been documented as having body image issues. There is no real escape from the message —

— if you don’t fit the mold, you are not good enough The message is clear and it comes at children from every direction. If mom is chronically dieting, it sends a message early on that food is the enemy. This can set the stage early for an eating disorder that can plague a child throughout life. The media provides nonstop pressure to live up to the “perfect” image portrayed by celebrities.

The Attack Comes from all Sides Social media has opened up a whole new Pandora’s Box of body shaming. It has become all too easy to hide behind a screen and shout out insults to friends and foes alike — and to make sure the world sees the insults, as well. Sort of like the wizard in the Wizard of Oz — as long as he could hide behind the curtain, he was a tough guy. His reign of terror only ended with his exposure. Everybody wants that “perfect” body/life/relationship And that’s great! Sure, wouldn’t it be wonderful to have that image be your reality!

But, hardly anyone can truly identify with the ideal, Photoshop-altered, plastic surgery altered, anorexia-induced, perfect size and shape, living in a perfect bubble, that makes the rest of humanity drop to their knees in wonderment and awe. What now! It doesn’t seem like the barrage of body shaming insults is going to let up any time soon. If you don’t quite measure up, you can count on the fact that someone, somewhere, very soon, will point that out to you. We humans are too enamored with the plastic images flashed before us. We want to believe that, if we just looked that good, the rest of our dismal life would fall into perfect place.

I’m Not Here to Discourage Them; I’m Here to Encourage You. I’m not even going to try to stem the tide of body shaming that comes from the world at large. Too many people find some level of superiority in putting down others. What I am going to try to do is convince you, my beloved reader, not to buy into the ridicule to the extent that you become your own worst enemy. You have one body — tall/short, fat/skinny, muscular/flabby, attractive/Butt-ugly, strong/weak, healthy/disabled, intelligent/slightly above average, young/old — Whatever! You have ONE body — the one you are walking around in right now. Yep, look in the mirror! That’s you! There are no trade-ins. No spare parts to claim. No way to turn back time or to accelerate the clock. Do not be ashamed of that one, unique body that is your own. You don’t have to be perfect to accept yourself. I’m not saying you have to be satisfied with less than perfect characteristics or circumstances. It’s okay to work on yourself — to see room for improvement and to go in that direction. Just don’t berate yourself along the way! Don’t hate what you have to work with. If you really stop to think about it, you will see that you have much to be grateful for. You almost certainly have qualities and advantages that exceed those of a vast percentage of the world’s population. We should not spend our eighty, ninety or one hundred years (if we’re lucky) feeling like ugly failures or dismal disappointments. As Eleanor Roosevelt has been quoted as saying,

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

Never give your consent.